Aberdeen’s Liberal Democrat councillors yesterday delivered on their pledge to scrap the much hated Garden Tax.

Kingswells, Sheddocksley, Summerhill councillor Steve Delaney who opposed the charge vehemently said, “Scrapping of the Garden Tax will address two key goals. It removes a charge that hit those on the lowest incomes hardest and it removes a disincentive to recycling”.

“Some who could not afford the charge and could not transport their garden waste to a recycling centre would disguise it in their general waste, increasing the cost and tonnage going to landfill. Garden waste could also be found dumped at various locations and that had to be uplifted at a cost”.

“If we want people to recycle to the maximum, we need to make it easy for them and the garden tax succeeded in becoming a great disincentive to recycling biodegradable garden waste”.

When the Garden Tax was first introduced, Steve said he would not pay it on a matter of principle and he never did. He said, “We only had a small garden so it was not difficult for us to take our garden waste to the recycling centre. That was much more of a challenge for residents who had no access to a vehicle, were left with no choice but to pay it”.

Note: From September 2024 a brown bin full of garden waste will be collected free of charge from every home. Charges will only apply where two or more bins require collection. Home composting is a viable alternative where the size of your garden would support this.