No plans to charge for green waste collections 'at this point', pledges Northampton Borough Council

Northamptonshire County Council says it is facing increasing financial pressures and cannot afford to keep paying borough and district councils to remove waste. The authority says it is looking for "alternative approaches".

It would mean the borough council would not receive any money from the county to remove green waste from households but the borough says it has "no intention of charging for green waste at this point".

A spokesman for the county council said: “With increasingly difficult financial pressures and a growing population we need all services to be as efficient as possible.

“The decision that was taken by Cabinet is to do things differently regarding the treatment of ‘green waste’ in the county because the current position is not sustainable.

“We have been working with borough and district councils over a number of years to find a way to make waste management more efficient and cost-effective.

“One option is to procure new contracts for green waste treatment, which will enable lower costs for the treatment of this waste and achieve a necessary saving for NCC.

"Authorities have agreed to meet as a partnership to reconsider alternatives, however, the pressures continue to increase and as such if a solution isn’t found we would need to proceed with the proposed procurement of new contracts for green waste.”

The spokesman said that recycling rates had flat-lined in recent years.

Mary Markham, leader of Northampton Borough Council, said, in response: “We have no intention of charging for green waste at this point, and I have told Northamptonshire County Council that that is the case.”