County council reveals plans to charge for tipping of non-household waste at recycling centres

Margate recycling centre

A consultation has been launched on plans to charge for non-household waste at the Household Waste and Recycling Centres (HWRC), including those at Margate and Richborough.

KCC operates 18 HWRCs, providing facilities for the recycling and disposal of more than 30 different types of waste but is not obligated to accept non-household waste at its sites, such as soil, rubble, hardcore and plasterboard.

Each year Kent’s sites receive approximately 185,000 tonnes of waste and 3.5 million visits, at a cost of approximately £10 million to the taxpayer.

KCC already charges for car and motorbike tyres which are also categorised as non-household waste. It now proposes charges of £4 per bag for soil, rubble and hardcore and £6 per bag of Plasterboard.

KCC cabinet member for waste Mike Whiting said: “We’re proud to have made significant progress in our environmental performance over the last 10 years.

“More than 99% of Kent’s household waste is recycled or recovered to produce energy, with less than 1% sent to landfill.

“However, we need to reduce our annual waste and recycling budget further, while providing residents with an accessible HWRC service.

“At a time when other local authorities are closing their sites down, reducing opening hours or not accepting certain waste, KCC is looking at ways to make the system more efficient to allow it to continue to offer the best possible service.

“KCC has no statutory requirement to accept non-household waste, however, we appreciate from time to time residents may need to dispose of these materials.

“KCC would like to continue to offer a service and proposes a modest charge to off-set the cost. Before any decisions are made, we would like to hear your views”.

KCC says pressure on the recycling centres include people who come from outside of Kent to dispose of their waste for free.

Councils such as Surrey and Bromley have already implemented similar charges. East Sussex County Council has also recently taken the decision to charge for non-household waste and to close several of its HWRCs close to the Kent border from late 2018.

The consultation launched today (September 6) and runs until November 1.

You can complete the online questionnaire at www.kent.gov.uk/wasteconsultation

8 Comments

  1. I have already spoken out about this. I don’t think an additional charge on top of our Council Tax is the right way forward. The additional cost will put some people off, as some, those in retirement, or on a low wage may not be able to afford this. We do t want to put people off from disposing of their rubbish properly. An additional charge may well do that.

  2. A fly tipping charter, if this goes ahead , expect to see more fly tipping in and around the Isle of Thanet and Kent

  3. do kcc have no commonsense, this will only encourage even more fly tipping … the idea is mind boggling, they must be a special kind of stupid

  4. KCC are getting really desperate to raise cash by whatever means they can. Even when the disadvantages are glaringly obvious. I am reminded that a number of local Councils round the country are being , effectively, declared bankrupt due to reduced funds coming from the Government. THEY adopted desperate measures too, but went under anyway. Is there something about the finances that KCC aren’t telling us?

  5. Absolutely ridiculous. There is one positive, this will probably create about 15 extra jobs in Thanet alone, clearing up the fly tipping.

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