RESIDENTS waiting to use a council garden waste scheme will be able to access the service next year.

Wychavon District Council has made the decision to extent the service.

The scheme has been in operation since spring 2009 and has been extremely popular with over 10,000 residents taking advantage of the brown wheelie bin that takes away unwanted garden waste for as little as £42 a year. The council collects the bin fortnightly throughout the year.

Councillor Emma Stokes, board member for contracted services and the environment, said: “We’re very pleased to be extending this service to residents. It’s an extremely popular service and we’re happy that those on the waiting list will now we able to have their garden waste collected for such a bargain price.”

Residents can sign up for the waiting list at wychavon.gov.uk/gardenwaste or by calling 01386 565018 and the new service will be rolled out in May 2013 in time for spring lawn cuttings.

Residents already on the waiting list do not need to register again. Wychavon will contact these residents in the next few weeks.

She added: “The scheme is specifically designed for residents who generate a lot of garden waste and who don’t have access to suitable composting facilities. Our target is to increase our recycling rate to 50 per cent by 2015 and this will certainly help us to achieve this as the garden waste is composted locally.”

Worcestershire County Council still offer discounted home composters and these can be ordered at hw.getcomposting.com