Garden waste charges in Hertfordshire have ‘no material impact’ on amount collected

Charging for the collection of garden waste has no ‘material impact’ on the amount collected, according to a report due to be published by the Hertfordshire Waste Partnership.

The partnership has looked at the amount of garden waste that was ‘captured’ by each of the 10 district and borough councils in Hertfordshire in 2020.

Data shows that in all areas more than 90 per cent of garden waste was collected – regardless of charging – with an overall average of 97.3 per cent.

The highest collection rate of 99.7 per cent was recorded in Welwyn Hatfield (which charged) and in St Albans (which at that point did not charge, but which now does).

The lowest collection rate of 91 per cent was recorded in Broxbourne (which charged) and in Hertsmere (which did not).

According to the report, the average garden waste ‘capture’ rate for boroughs and districts that charge for garden waste collection was 97.1 per cent.

And that ‘increases marginally to only 97.6 per cent when the service is provided free of charge’.

The data is due to be included in the partnership’s 2020/21 annual report – which was presented to a meeting of the partnership on Monday, November 1.

And according to the commentary, the inference from the figures “. . . is that in average terms charging for garden waste, as opposed to providing a free service, appears to have no material impact on the amount of garden waste an authority captures.”

At the time of the 2020 study, the councils that charged for garden waste collection were Welwyn Hatfield, Watford, Three Rivers, North Herts and Broxbourne.

Meanwhile, Stevenage, St Albans, Hertsmere, East Herts and Dacorum did not.

The data shows that for each of the districts the data the amount of garden waste collected, in tonnes, in 2020 was: Broxbourne 7,529; Dacorum 15,158; East Herts 14,496; Hertsmere 9045; North Herts 14,324; St Albans 17,679; Stevenage 6,245; Three Rivers 11,039; Watford 6,457; Welwyn Hatfield 8,474.

And garden waste ‘capture’ as a percentage of the total garden waste for each council was: Broxbourne 91; Dacorum 99.2; East Herts 99.5; Hertsmere 91; North Herts 96.5; St Albans 99.7; Stevenage 98.1; Three Rivers 99.6; Watford 98.6; Welwyn Hatfield 99.7.