More On H&F’s Failing Garden Waste Service

Judging from my inbox there seems to be a consensus that H&F Council’s new garden waste removal service isn’t much of a service – a scheme that H&F Council now charges £7.25 for. I’ve written to the Council asking that residents’ individual complaints are addressed and that the Council compensates those people who’ve been messed around.

Here’s what four residents have written to tell me in the last 24 hours:

Resident one
“They don't even bother to pick it up on the specified days. I saw that someone had left neatly bundled bags (about 8 or 10) of garden waste round a tree a little way down the road and THREE weeks later, it was still there, of course, spilling out of the bags onto the pavement. I rang up only to be told (a) that they should not be left round a tree. (b) I was then accused of leaving them there.”

Resident two
“I registered with the scheme this year. Since registering, admittedly only four weeks ago, my garden waste has not been picked up. This week one of the bags was caught in the wind and blown into the street, where it was emptied over the road by passing cars. When I got home from work I had to go and sweep it all up and bag it again. I’ve not had trouble getting thru on the ‘green’ line and they are always pleasant and helpful, but the service itself is rubbish. In environmental terms it’s also a completely ridiculous idea. I imagine a lot of people, unwilling or unable to pay the charge, are now black bagging their green waste and putting it out for the bin men. Alternatively, as you say, it’s being dumped in the street. When it was a free service, white bags lined the street on collection day. Now they’re a rare sight – garden waste is obviously going somewhere else.”

Resident three
"In the past two weeks we have put out our bags in vain. Last Thursday, the red bag collection picked up a neighbour's transparent garden waste bag which still remained on the pavement from Tuesday, like ours, but ours was not removed. Ours stayed on the pavement until today but has not been taken."

Resident four
“It would be nice if they actually collected the waste. They frequently fail to collect from us. The fact is that we have paid and are entitled to the service”.

Please let me know if you have similar problems by emailing me here and I will do my best to help you.