Barnet introduced a £70 annual subscription for garden waste collection in 2020. 82% opposed any such charge in the preceding consultation. Only 51% of the existing green bins in the borough had been subcribed to this paid-for service by July 2020. We fear this will lead to increased bonfires and fly-tipping, plus a huge increase in vehicle-miles and time occupied as some householders take the waste to Summers Lane.

We realise Barnet needed to save money. However if it simply cuts black bin collection from houses to fortnightly, this would free up staff to empty all green bins on alternate weeks with no subscription needed, as before. Already 5/6 of UK councils collect residual waste less frequently than weekly (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-47414500). Fortnightly black bin emptying also encourages recycling, which is currently well below target in Barnet.

As there were considerably fewer green bins than black bins, it is likely that doing this would leave considerable surplus resource. This could be used to provide free collection of garden waste from flats with gardeners (not previously free), free allotment waste collection, or improve recycling in the borough,  if possible restoring separate food waste collection. Barnet has promised to restore separate food waste collection by 2020, as is required by the London Environment Strategy, and it last cost Barnet £300k annually, far less than the £1.5m+ cost of green bin collection prior to the annual charge.