BOSSES of a financially-struggling council were “surprised” thousands of people have already subscribed to the £50 garden waste collection scheme.

Slough Borough Council’s executive director for place and community, Richard West, said about 4,500 residents have signed up for the new green waste scheme since it went live on November 28.

Speaking at Wednesday’s (Feb 1) joint customer and community scrutiny panel and place scrutiny panel, Mr West said: “We were surprised to get that amount so far because there’s no real impact on the green waste bins for most people until March when they start cutting their grass.”

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Locals previously enjoyed having their green bins collected for free until the council decided to introduce an annual £50 charge to potentially provide an annual income of up to £900,000.

The council effectively declared bankruptcy in July 2021 and needs to find about £20m in annual savings for the next few years.

After November 25, 2022, residents who still wanted their grass cuttings, shrub trimmings, and dead leaves collected had to pay £50 and needed a sticker for their green bin as proof of purchase.

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The garden waste was meant to go live on November 1 but “due to supply chain problems” with printing and distributing the stickers, this delayed it by 27 days.

The subscription year will run until December 1, 2023.