Council to charge for disposal of building and demolition waste at recycling centres

The charges were approved by Cabinet in January as a budget cutting initiative for recycling centres and will begin on Monday, April 3, 2017.

A public consultation about introducing these charges was held last year and the charges were proposed as one way to help contribute towards Government spending targets.

The consultation results were that 47per cent agreed with the proposal, 43per cent disagreed and 10per cent neither agreed nor disagreed.

The types of waste that will incur the new charges are concrete, mortar, rubble, hardcore and ceramics.

Cabinet Member for Highways, Transport and Infrastructure Councillor Dean Collins said: “It is regrettable that we need to bring in these charges but we have to reduce Derbyshire’s waste bill which is currently £37.2m each year.

“By 2018, our budget will be a third lower than in 2010 which means we have some difficult decisions to make about the future of the services we provide.

“While we don’t legally have to provide a service for people to get rid of building and demolition waste, public opinion on this proposal was split.

“But on balance we felt that it is better to charge for the service rather than stop it altogether.”

He added: “The charge is relatively low - £3 a bag - and only applies to items not generally disposed of on a frequent basis.

“And we still continue to encourage people to reduce the amount of waste they produce and recycle and compost more to help cut costs further.”

The charge of £3 per standard rubble sack will make sure the scheme is cost-effective and generates profit.

It is expected that the introduction of this charging policy will generate at least £70,000 income per year.

Payment is by card machine only as this reduces the security risk and is in line with other councils which have adopted a similar charging scheme.