Green Bin Collections will be every THREE weeks in Formby.....

Formby residents and the rest of Sefton will now have their Green Garden Waste Bins collected every three weeks. The next collection in Formby, which will be the first one of 2015, will not be until Monday 2nd March for Formby. The council have said they are doing this so continue to provide a free service because they have to save £55 million. Formby Bubble did not realise the bin service was free, we thought it was our council tax that paid for it! Green bin collections will now run from March to November. Here's the full story..... From March the Green Bin collection will become every 3 weeks in Sefton. There will be no collections of green garden waste at all during December – February Green (garden) waste collection arrangements. Members will recall that approval was given to defer charging for green waste collections and introduce a plastic and cardboard collection service to achieve a financial saving between 2013 and 2015. In order to contribute towards the further financial savings which need to be made between 2015 and 2017 Cabinet approval was given, on the 27th November 2014, to the implementation of the amended green waste refuse collection timetable for 2015/16, including associated working arrangements. The Director of Street Scene was also granted delegated authority to undertake all necessary arrangements to enable the amended green waste refuse collection to be implemented by March 2015. The previously fortnightly Green Waste collection, with collections on either a Saturday or Monday will change to a 3 weekly collection service for Green Waste taking place only on a Monday (including Bank Holidays). The three week cycle of collections will operate for 39 weeks of the year, commencing in March 2015. It is envisaged that the reduced frequency of collections will still result in a sustainable service which will continue to provide Sefton residents with an opportunity to dispose of their garden waste free-of-charge collection. It is anticipated that this arrangement will negate any significant reduction in green waste tonnage and will therefore help the Council to continue to achieve an acceptable recycling rate whilst providing a more sustainable base to work towards the future 50% recycling rate by 2020. Households that produce, and are able to store an additional wheelie-bin, will be provided with the opportunity to obtain one as this will also contribute towards the recycling rate, maximise the amount of green waste collected and minimise any disposal of garden waste via grey ‘residual waste’ wheelie-bins. Arrangements are underway to inform residents of this change, by providing a letter which explains this change, when the 3-weekly collections will commence and the dates when grey, brown and green wheelie-bins will be collected via a new collection calendar. As a result of this change collections of green bins will now resume from March 2015 and will operate each year between March and November only, no green w/bin collections will be provided during December, January or February. On the 25th November 2014 the Overview and Scrutiny Management Board welcomed the implementation of an amended green waste collection as a budget saving option and recommended that Cabinet approve the implementation of the amended green waste collection service for 2015/16.