Antrim and Newtownabbey councillors are to consider making changes to household waste services this week in a bid to cut costs.
Councillors have been asked to make a decision on introducing a charge for bulky waste collections of domestic items, the cost of which amounts to £335,000 annually in the borough.
A report to be presented to the council’s Operations Committee, at a meeting on Monday evening, has indicated that residents made 16,000 bookings for the removal service during 2023-24.
Councillors have been told that if demand continues to increase, an additional bin lorry and staff will be required at a cost of £100k.
They have also been advised that the service costs £20 per collection and involves the use of three vehicles and six staff members to operate overall.
The report notes that currently, there are no restrictions on the number of collections which a resident can request in a year. It is anticipated that the overall number lifted from households in the borough will increase to more than 17,000.
It was also stated that 2,000 households locally request “multiple” bulky collections each year and most request at least one.
It is proposed to introduce a fee of £10 per request with an increase in the number of items allowed for collection to be increased from three to five, from April 2025.
In addition, councillors will also be considering a reduction in distribution of caddy bin liners to households in the borough. Food waste caddy liners are supplied by the local authority free of change, at present, as an incentive to recycle food waste.
These are distributed to households which attach a red label to their brown bin at a cost to the council of £185k annually.
It is proposed to distribute caddy liners to households free of charge twice annually during bin collections with further liners available, free of charge, from council and community facilities, from April.