Dudley Council’s environment chief has defended a proposed hike in garden waste collection fees from £36 to £52.

The rise, of 44%, comes less than 12 months after the cash-strapped council introduced charging for the service in a bid to generate extra income.

Councillor Damian Corfield, Dudley cabinet member for highways and environmental services, said: “We are facing up to an unprecedented financial position where we need to find more than £41 million to balance the books and continue to deliver crucial front-line services for our most vulnerable residents.

“The charge for garden waste collections will equate to just £2 a fortnight. In exchange for that, residents will continue to get the service all year round apart from two weeks over Christmas.

“I must stress that we are not forcing anyone to pay anything – this remains an optional service.”

The service attracted more than 25,000 subscriptions in the first two weeks after it was announced in March 2024 and now has 73,000 paying households.

Despite a better than expected take-up the council insists the service still requires a £3.5m annual subsidy and the increase is set to remove the need for extra cash.

Cllr Corfield added: “The idea behind the charge is that it makes the service self-sufficient moving forwards – at the moment it is being subsidised by the taxpayer whether you opt in to it or not.

“For those that do want it – and the many thousands who signed up last year shows how valued it is – we will be doing all we can to ensure it continues to offer excellent value to our residents.”

Meanwhile in Sandwell, residents can subscribe to their green waste collections for £40 which covers 20 collections of garden waste which start the week commencing 10 or 17 March and run to December 2025.

Households that subscribed to receive garden waste collections in 2024 will need to renew subscriptions for 2025 to continue to receive garden waste collection.

Collections will resume over a two-week period with week one beginning on 10 March 2025 and week two on 17 March 2025.

A permit sticker will be provided to all subscribers to attach to their garden waste bin. Residents who take out more than one subscription will need to attach the permit to each bin. 2024 permit stickers will need to be replaced with the new permit sticker for 2025.