Maybe those who still want green bag collection could let Lewisham know and explain why? It's probably the same refuse team picking up the green bags now and the brown bins later.

Do we know how much this service is going to cost to run. what level of take up do the council need for it to break even? It seems highly unlikely that the take up in Lewisham will be near the very low 3% take up in Kensington. Why can't garden waste be put in the general waste bin and used to produce energy? People who garden probably compost leafy waste to a greater extent anyway, the garden waste that we need to get rid of tends to be more woody material which would make excellent fuel.
Would the money not be better spent keeping the libraries open.

According to the leaflet I got, a very large majority of respondents to the recent survey on waste services asked for brown bin collection. That's respondents, not residents. But still.

"Would anybody object to transferring SE23 to Southwark?

We could have free garden waste collection and a proper staffed library"

...and we'd probably (possibly?) get fewer fugly private towerblocks built on public, open green spaces too, so yeah, i'm up for it Michael!

Seriously though, i think this will lead to a load more fly-tipping, which will ultimately cost the council more to clear up.
I liked the green bag scheme, as i've used a couple of rolls but no more on the few occasions when i've had more twigs and woody waste than easily compostable stuff from the garden to get shot of, but i don't think i'll use a bin regularly enough to justify the cost and space it'll take up, as i take most of my green waste down to the allotment to compost (which, incidentally, is cheaper to rent per year than to subscribe to a green waste bin, so i really am getting a bargain with my great big compost heap on Lewisham Council owned land!). Oh well, i'll be making a lot more compost to grow my veg from now on...thinking of getting one of these rather than 'subscribe' to Lewisham http://www.hotbincomposting.com/

It's a better deal!

I'd also like to know how much this service will cost Lewisham Council to run. I'm not convinced it's a wise way to spend Council money with all the cuts being made and I wouldn't be surprised if this service ran at a loss. Also as mentioned previously I too think this will increase fly-tipping & creating more costs!

I wouldn't use this service as most of my garden waste goes in the compost bin & some woody materials I use for the wood burner, I only use a few green bags a year.

I don't see a clear answer to that. The cost of all the waste collection services is £7.1-8.2m. (It is £7.8-8.2m currently):
http://councilmeetings.lewisham.gov.uk/d...ervice.pdf

As I read this, they are budgeting for the new garden waste service to be a flop, in which case there is no saving. We also mostly compost and so can't justify this expense for a weekly service. We are left with more car trips to Landmann Way - some others will surely fly tip instead.

I feel that the consultation results, as published, are disingenuous. They do not show the proportion who did not answer questions:
https://www.lewisham.gov.uk/myservices/w...esults.pdf

It *may* well be that most people wanted a garden waste collection but it is not clear that most wanted to pay for one (£80 was suggested). If the council reached their decision based on this report then their reasoning is surely flawed.

I have been waiting for Lewisham borough to do something regarding garden waste collections, door to door.
Now they have, I am uncertain about joining up. The coat of these schemes always seem to rise so quickly. The real pain is, it would help me lots as, have two high and long hedges which when cut, the clear away is a couple of trips to recycle centre

What a quandary!

I think it is great and have paid my £45 quid. Less than a pound a week is a bargain.

I'm also very happy Lewisham conducted a survey and have acted on the results.

Sour grapes to those whose opinions don't match the majority.

Have also bought in. Now want my bin, as everything is growing like crazy!

I've been overruled by Mrs Numbers who thinks it's a great idea. Okay, maybe. But it's not such a great Year 1 bargain.

It's normally £60 for a year. It's only £45 for the first year. But read the website and you'll see the first "year" runs from June (let's call it 1st June) to 31st March 2017. So a 25% discount off the price, and a 17% discount off the year - 10 months, not 12!

One year for £60 = £1.15/week
10 months for £45 = £0.96/week

Yes, it's a saving, but it's not the £0.87/week that it appears to be at first glance - and even that is assuming that the "year" starts on 1st June. The website is a bit vague. If it doesn't kick off till the end of June, then the "discount" entirely disappears!

"Sign up now and get nine months for the price of nine!"

Our bin has arrived. It is splendidly decorative (slightly tongue-in-cheek). Am very pleased with it.

Yes, the tree decoration is particularly nice!

I do also like the small white square for writing in your house number with a permanent marker. I never did understand this idea of painting your number on the side so large you can read it from Penge.

Our bin arrived this morning. At about 7 AM I thought someone must have set up a drum kit in the street - incredible noise of wheelie bins being unloaded from a truck. Why does the council not generally observe the hours of the Noisy Work Regulations, and have its own services leave us in peace until 08.00?

The regular rubbish collection service starts even earlier - very disturbing. Is it necessary? Is the enforcement authority ignoring its own regulations and guidelines, when providing services?

One of the bin crew guys told me a while ago that they have to get their collections done and at the depot by a certain time. And if they don't, they don't get the overtime. You can easily imagine that the delivery target is pretty damn tight so from the crews' perspective, anything they can do to make the collection run on time within the hours they'll be paid for is all to the good.

Hence, one gang member goes ahead, getting the bins in position and consolidating bin contents if possible so it's only one 'lift' rather than two.

Economics over public convenience, I'm afraid. The only upside is that the noise from the forward gang member reminds me it's Wednesday and I need to get the rubbish out before the lorry arrives.

When I worked in the refuse depot the start time was 7.00 a.m..

If they start later they get stuck in traffic.

I rather get woken by the refuse collectors than stuck behind one in rush hour traffic on a side road. Actually, I never hear them anymore, and they come and move our bins out to the kerbside pretty early. My brain just doesn't log it as a disturbance anymore.

Our bin operatives are superb and very very helpful. They are our Wednesday alarm clock.

Sleep deprivation is a major health issue, so not just a matter of convenience. It would be good to know, however, what the economic case is - if indeed there is one.

Yes, I have no complaints about them or their work, just don't want to hear bins being shunted around at 06.00 in the AM.

This post was last modified: 15-04-2016 07:16 AM by Devonish Forester.

6am doesn't seem too bad. Look back a few years and you'll see we were complaining about 5am collections. Perhaps things have improved since then.

Thanks Michael, I have had a look at that earlier thread. It appears that no-one was able to discover why the collections start so early. Perhaps Paul (Cllr Paul Upex) could find out for us?