RESIDENTS are being urged to sign up for the council’s green bin service as it looks to make sure that a price hike doesn’t lead to a fall in demand.

Last year some 15,600 people paid to have their garden waste collected and disposed of by the council.

But with the price rising from £40 to £50 for 2017/18, and with no change to the service provided, the council will have to work hard to avoid a fall in those numbers.

The £50 charge is equivalent to around £2 per collection.

Even if residents don’t pull out of the scheme altogether, some have suggested they may share a bin with a neighbour which is entirely lawful but would hurt the council in its pocket.

The change in price has been blamed on higher operational costs and an increasing demand for the service and the council has been keen to emphasise that for they have kept the price at a constant level for the previous three years.

They say the change in circumstances made a price review unavoidable. and the £10 price rise was duly agreed by the cabinet last October.

By joining the green bin scheme, residents are contributing to the environmentally friendly re-use of their waste.

The contents of the green bins is sent for composting and recycled into soil improver.

The service has been running for three years and is funded by those residents who wish to make use of it, rather than via the council tax as a whole.

Existing customers will receive an email or letter inviting them to subscribe for another year, while tags will also be attached to general household waste wheelie bins to encourage those who do not have a green wheelie bin to sign up for one.

Keith Williams, the cabinet member for StreetSmart, said: “The number of households who have signed up to the garden waste service has been steadily growing over the past few years but we’re urging even more people to sign up.

“It is an excellent service and although there has been an increase in the subscription from last year, it still represents great value for money since it avoids people having to take their green waste to the Household Waste Recycling Centre, with the inevitable queuing involved.

“This year we have looked closely at the service and adapted it to achieve the most reliable service possible.

“New routes and the provision of stickers help streamline collections by our crews knowing exactly where to pick up the garden waste.”

But not all residents are happy to pay more when they can’t see any noticeable difference in either the quality or frequency of the collection.

One long-time green bin user from Haydon Wick accused the council of “taking the mick”.

Mavis Read, 73, lives with two other people, fellow pensioners aged 75 and 80.

“We’re elderly people so we can’t get to the tip every week with our rubbish,” she said.

“We’re already one of the highest areas in tax — we’ve got the increase from the borough and then the parish.

“We are on fixed incomes so where do we find the money?

“My next door neighbour is 84 — she’s going to have to find another tenner as well.”

Mavis said that when the green bins were first introduced, it proved tough for the council to get enough people to sign up for the service and fly tipping increased.

She fears the price hike may see the same thing happening again.

Information about the council’s green bin service:

This year, all subscriptions will run from 1st April through to 31st March 2018, but new and existing customers who subscribe part way through the year will be charged a pro-rata amount for the service until 31st March 2018.

All subscribers will receive a membership sticker to display on the lid of their bin(s) to help crews identify paid-for bins.

Sign up via www.swindon.gov.uk/gardenwaste or call the garden waste service on 01793 445501.

The subscription-only service also gives the collection crews an accurate picture of exactly where the waste needs to be collected from and the likely amounts, which provides a more reliable and timely service.

Households unsuitable for a wheelie bin will receive an annual supply of garden bags.