I have criticised the proposal by the Dundee City Council administration to hike the Brown Bin charge to £40 a permit for the 2022 collection year and will be opposing the increase in the brown bin charge when it comes before the council’s Policy & Resources Committee next week.
The £5 increase represents a 14% hike – at a time when inflation is running at about 3%. It is completely unjustified and just a way of the council fleecing another £100 000 out of the Dundee public.
I have always opposed having a tax on recycling and felt that this would be a further disincentive to recycling. We should be encouraging more recycling not less and the garden tax increase will make matters worse. The council is trying to stop collecting side waste and increasing the brown bin tax will simply lead to more recycling going into grey bins, undermining their own side waste policy. This is not a good look. If anything, the brown bin charge should be reduced not increased.