Introduction of Household Waste Charges in April

A decision by The Highland Council to introduce charges for bulky uplifts of household wastes is to be implemented from the start of the new financial year on 1 April.

The Highland Council’s Transport Environmental and Community Services Committee is introducing the charges in a bid to increase the amount of waste recycled to 40% by 2010 and 50% by 2013.

A single charge of £15 will be applied for the collection of up to three items during a single visit (eg sofa and two chairs) and that a £30 charge will be applied for the collection of between four and six items.

Those wishing to use the service will be asked to use a telephone payment system, which is currently being developed and will be widely advertised before implementation on 1 April.

The Council is one of the last in Scotland to charge for a bulky uplift. 28 of the 32 councils in Scotland currently apply a charge for the collection of bulky items and the average charge is £18.

Councillor Brian Murphy, Vice-Chairman of the Council’s TEC Services Committee, said: “This is a long overdue move which brings us in line with other Scottish councils and will help both raise income for the service and help meet our recycling targets.

“There have been concerns that charging will increase fly tipping.  However, this has not been the experience of other authorities who have introduced charging.  The level of fly tipping in Highland has been monitored since black bag waste was removed from the bulky collection service in July 2008 and there is no evidence to indicate that there has been an increase in the level of tipping.”