Falkirk Council: Thousands of garden waste permits already purchased

At the end of last year, Falkirk Council announced it was introducing the charge for brown bins to be uplifted in a bid to cut its multi-million pound deficit in 2023/24.

While many householders hit out at the charge being imposed, the local authority revealed that 8000 have already purchased their permits.

But some residents are concerned about the system being introduced and say it is “ill thought out”.

While Falkirk Council say many neighbouring authorities have introduced a similar charging system at its budget meeting last week, West Lothian Council dropped the proposal and householders will still be entitled to free uplifts of garden waste.

A Falkirk Council spokesperson said: “The brown bin permit is working well, and householders are signing up in their numbers aligned to the council’s expectations.

“The sticker is made of good quality vinyl and is the same as that used by other local authorities in Scotland for several years now. If anyone does have a particular issue with their sticker they should contact waste services via [email protected]”

Households who purchase a permit – which must be clearly displayed on the bin – will have it uplifted through the kerbside collection ever four weeks from April to November.

One elderly Polmont resident with a large garden says he currently has two brown bins to cope with his garden waste and is unhappy about having to pay £50.

He said: “At a time when the cost of living is going through the roof, particularly energy and food prices, why am I being charged about £3 for each collection of garden waste when we already pay council tax? I am being told that many people are not going to buy a brown bin permit and either use their green bin or dump it on council maintained ground.

"I’m being told to go to the recycling centres but can they cope with the extra demand? Will we have to make appointments? And what about all the extra mileage people like myself are going to incur. It’s not good enough.”