Garden waste collections are to end early this year as part of urgent measures to help address a projected £13.6 million overspend in the City Council’s budget.
The collections, which have been temporarily suspended for one month due to staff shortages, will end for the 2022 season following one final collection round starting on Monday (15 August).
Councillor Mark Shayer, Deputy Leader and Cabinet member for Finance and Economy, said: “We know this will be disappointing news for many residents and we haven’t taken this decision lightly but we absolutely have to take urgent action to reduce the unprecedented overspend that we are projecting this year.
“We are facing a very serious financial position which is largely due to national issues beyond our control and we have to act now if we are to be in with a chance of balancing the books at the end of the financial year. We anticipate that stopping collections now instead of in November as originally planned will save around £200,000.
“We will be carrying out one more collection over the next fortnight to make sure that everyone can get rid of the garden waste they have been building up over the last month.
“We’re sorry for the inconvenience this may cause but we hope that people understand that the rising costs we are experiencing now are beyond our control.
“This decision is for this year’s collections only. We have not made any decisions about garden waste collections next year.”
The decision was made as the Council’s Cabinet considered a revenue monitoring report highlighting the projected £13.6 million overspend in this year’s budget due to rapidly rising energy, fuel and materials cost, as well as increasing demand and costs for social care services.
The escalating energy costs include an additional £1m bill just for street lighting across the city. The Council is also seeing a 31 per cent increase in fuel costs for its vehicle fleet, which includes refuse and recycling collection vehicles.
The ongoing impact of the pandemic is also being seen in other rising costs and demand pressures. Changes to people’s working habits have led to an increase in the amount of domestic waste that needs to collected, adding £980,000 to annual collection costs.
There is also an ongoing rise in the number of people requiring adult social care services. There has also been an increase this year in the number of people requiring emergency bed and breakfast accommodation.
Councillor Shayer said: “We really do not relish making any decisions that reduce services for Plymouth residents but it would be irresponsible not to act quickly and let the problem get even worse. We have limited scope for what we can do as some our key services – such as social care – are statutory but we are having to explore all options for reducing costs.
“Garden waste collections are discretionary and Plymouth remains one of the few remaining councils that offer the service without charging an annual fee.”
A report on other options for reducing the projected overspend is due to be considered at a further Cabinet meeting in the coming weeks.
When garden waste collections end residents will be able to take their garden waste to the Council’s household recycling centres, or compost it at home where possible.
Anyone making a trip to the recycling centres is encouraged to offer to also take garden waste for friends, family or neighbours who don’t have access to a vehicle.