Council approves £40 garden waste fee

The new charge will be brought in from April 2025

Residents in a local authority area will have to pay a £40 annual fee to have their garden waste collected from next year.

The charge was approved by Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council and is set to start from 1 April 2025.

The local authority will also start collecting food waste and recycling every week from April 2026.

Labour councillor Clare Besford said the borough had the lowest recycling rate in the Tees Valley and hoped the changes would "encourage households to recycle more".

The council said each household will also receive an additional weighted bag for the collection of dry recycling.

Besford said this was because several residents had complained about their recycling bags blowing away in the wind.

She also said the weekly collection of recycling and food waste would help the council "move forward" with its commitment to the environment.

Stockton also approved the closure of community recycling centres found on private land across the region, known as "bring sites", due to "repeated incidents of anti-social behaviour".