What a Waste: Brown-top Bins Being Removed from Houses across Shepway

Shepway Council are collecting brown-top bins back from households across Shepway who are refusing to pay the Council's new £35 Garden Tax. Thousands of bins are being collected by Shepway Council vans and the recycling and composting rate is expected to drop significantly.

Until April, around 17,500 brown-top bins for Garden Waste were in use in Shepway. Waste from the bins was collected and composted, boosting Shepway's recycling figures. With take-up of the bins following the introduction of the £35 charge expected to drop to between 8-10,000, composting rates are expected to around halve.

Sandgate resident Season Prater watched one Shepway van collecting back the bins. She said:

"The van collecting bins back in Sandgate was stuffed full, and I can only assume that bins are being collected back across Shepway.

"It seems crazy that Shepway have introduced a charge which makes it HARDER for local people to compost, at a time when Councils are being charged more and more for putting waste into landfill. Local people were doing their bit - but Shepway aren't doing theirs."