HOUSEHOLDS are being offered a money-saving scheme as plans for a controversial waste charge in the district edge closer.

Residents will get an early bird discount if they opt in to subscribe to the new garden waste service by November 30.

The plans were first revealed towards the beginning of the year to the anger of many residents.

The council blamed the “impacts of Covid-19”, cost-of-living crisis and “uncertainty over government funding facing councils” as some of the reasons for the charge.

In August, the council’s corporate scrutiny committee considered ‘call-ins’ from Labour and the Independent and Green group over the cabinet’s decision to introduce the new opt-in chargeable garden waste service.

The committee voted against referring the matter back to cabinet.

The new service will now start on March 4 next year and during the first year, the subscription will cover a 13-month period to March 31.

Each subscription year will then be from April to March.

The first year’s subscription fee for a green bin will be £55, but if residents sign up early, they will get a 50 per cent discount.

Additional bins are available for an extra £27.50 subscription charge, plus the cost of the bin which is £34.

Those who have subscribed to the service will receive a sticker in early 2024 to put on their bin and collection crews will have handheld devices to check the collection service has been paid for.

Only bins displaying the sticker will be emptied.

Households which receive a black sack collection can participate in the new service by purchasing biodegradable sacks from the council at a cost of £8 for a roll of 20 sacks, which includes delivery and collections.

No other type of sack will be accepted.

The 'early bird' offer also applies, reducing the cost to £4 per roll.

Sacks will be delivered in 2024 before the service goes live.

Collections will be every fortnight throughout the year apart from the week before and the week after Christmas.

Those who do not join the subscription service can dispose of garden waste recycling centres or compost it home instead.

For more information, visit braintree.gov.uk/gardenwastesubscription.