Residents of Barking and Dagenham are being urged to add some green plans to their New Year resolutions and do their bit for the planet by signing up to the council’s Green Garden Waste collection service.

The service, which costs just £41 for the year, collects and recycles cut flowers, weeds, leaves, grass cuttings, twigs and hedge trimmings.

Launched in 2017, the service saw over 7,500 residents signed up last year. Residents can take advantage of 19 fortnightly collections between March and December if they sign-up before Valentine’s Day, Monday 14 February. 

Residents can now also do their bit for the planet by recycling even more household waste in their brown bin or blue eurobins, if they live in a flat with communal bins. Items such as glass bottles and jars, as well as plastics likes yoghurt pots or empty aerosol cans, which would previously have gone to landfill, can now be recycled.

Councillor Syed Ghani, Cabinet Member for Public Realm, said: “We’ve all witnessed first-hand the impact of global warming over the last year with residents experiencing a mini tornado, and severe flooding.

 “We all have a part to play in reducing our carbon footprint, and residents can do their bit by signing up for our popular Green Garden Waste collection service.

We all have a part to play in reducing our carbon footprint, and residents can do their bit by signing up for our popular Green Garden Waste collection service.

“We’ve also introduced a number of measures to help the environment, including increasing the amount of rubbish that can be recycled.

“Through changes such as this, we’ve recorded more than a 10 per cent improvement on our recycling figures in less than a year – so change is possible if we all work together.

“Tackling climate change isn’t something we can fix overnight but taking steps like using our Green Garden Waste service, reducing our waste, reusing things, and recycling more at home really helps.”

The Green Garden Waste service has proved a significant part of the council’s effort to meet the Mayor of London’s target of having a 50 per cent recycling rate by 2030.

Residents can sign up for the Green Garden Waste service here.

Residents can find out more about the council’s extended recycling scheme here.