Villages near Haverhill that fall in the Braintree District Council area face new household waste collection rules

Anyone living in the Braintree District Council area, including residents of numerous villages near Haverhill, will not have any household waste collected after next March unless it is put into a grey wheeled bin and the lid is closed.

The change to collections comes after the council’s cabinet met just before Christmas and agreed to implement a Policy for Household Waste and Recycling Collections from April 1, 2024.

This includes the new stance of not taking away additional waste put out for collection that is not put in grey wheeled bins, referred to as side waste.

Cllr Tom Cunningham, cabinet member for transformation, the environment and customer services, and deputy leader at Braintree District Council, said: “We all need to think about what we buy and take greater responsibility for reducing the amount of household waste we produce and recycle as much as we can.

“This will help save energy, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, positively impact the environment and pave the way for a greener and more sustainable future for generations to come.”

The council said that households in the district generated the fourth highest volume of residual waste in Essex, averaging to 463.58 kgs of waste per household.

It added that more now needs to be done to meet recycling targets and waste minimisation objectives that have been set for the future.

In conjunction with the non-collection of side waste, one of the aims of the new policy is to support a more circular economy by keeping resources in use for as long as possible, reusing, repairing, refurbishing, and recycling to extend the life cycle of products.

If a resident’s bin is missed on their collection day, under the new policy, they will need to report it to the council after 3pm on the day of collection and no later than 12 noon on the next working day and should leave their bin at their normal collection point. The collection crew will return to collect it within 2 working days of receiving a missed bin report.

The weekly collections for properties which have communal bins, such as flats, will remain the same.

There is still no restriction to the number of clear recycling sacks residents can put out for collection, providing they contain the correct items.

Braintree District Council will keep residents informed of any updates over the coming months before the new policy commences.

Following the Government’s provision for local authorities to increase the level of fixed penalties notices up to a maximum of £500, Braintree District Council is currently reviewing to increase the current level of £100 to £200 for littering.

Any side waste will be treated as an unauthorised deposit of waste put out on the highway that is not contained within the correct bin.