Red alert over Rugby's loss-making green bin service

The details have emerged in a report to a meeting of the full borough council tomorrow, Wednesday, to call for councillors from all sides to work together to tackle the big issues.

The green wheelie bins for garden waste were brought in on April 3, 2017, with a blaze of publicity pointing out that it was not a service the council had to provide but, recognising its importance, it would offer one for an annual subscription.

Now in its sixth year of operation the price has stayed the same but the report to council highlights a number of worries – notably that it is running at a loss.

With the potential that in the current cost-of-living crisis, people who currently subscribe could choose to opt out in future, councillors are being asked to look at an overhaul of the operation.

The report highlights what it terms ‘budget pressure’ – confirmed by a council spokesperson as an indicator it is making a loss: “In 2022/23, there are 22,560 subscribers to the service which is less than 50 per cent of the households in the borough, this generates an income of £0.902m, but there is a budget pressure of £0.204m.

"The borough has continued to grow since the commencement of the service and only minor changes have been made to the routes that the collection crews take. This is being addressed by the team optimising the routes using software called Webaspx.

"In the last five years the cost of delivering the service has increased, particularly more recently given the cost of fuel and staffing costs.

"The charge of £40 per bin however has remained static and has resulted in the current position where the income no longer covers the cost of delivering this service.

"From a service delivery perspective, there are reports of missed bins, unreliable collections and crews emptying garden waste bins that do not appear to have the subscription confirmation stickers on them, all of which has an impact on the performance of the service.”

But at the same time, the report highlights the positives of having the system: “Collecting separated garden waste ensures that the majority of organic waste that can be composted is eliminated from the residual (black bin) waste stream, increasing the amount of recycling produced by residents of the borough.”

It goes on to recommend a cross-party working group is set up to ‘focus on efficiency, cost and customer service’ and report to the council by February.

Portfolio holder for operations and traded services, Cllr Kathryn Lawrence, told the Advertiser: “With the garden waste collection service having been up and running now for a number of years, it seems the right time to ask a cross-party working group to review its effectiveness.

"With continued growth in our borough we need to look at the routes allocated to each round and review all of our costs to ensure the service remains value for money.”

The council confirmed the service will be suspended for two weeks (one collection) from December 24, while black and blue-lid bins due for collection on December 26 will be collected on December 26. No other changes are planned.