Kingston is charging you £60 to collect your garden waste — here is what they are not saying

From April 2026, Kingston residents will need to pay £60 per year for garden waste collection. The council frames this as an environmental initiative to boost recycling. The reality is more complicated.

The recycling rate problem

Kingston's recycling rate sits at 43%, below the London average. After years of Lib Dem control, the borough has failed to improve this meaningfully. Rather than investing in better recycling infrastructure or education, the council's solution is to charge residents for a service they already pay for through council tax.

Who loses out?

The £60 subscription will disproportionately affect older residents with gardens who are already on fixed incomes. Many will simply stop using the service and either burn garden waste (illegal), dump it in general waste bins (defeating the recycling purpose), or fly-tip it. The council has provided no evidence that similar schemes elsewhere have actually improved recycling rates rather than just shifting the problem.

The food waste sweetener

Weekly food waste collection — up from fortnightly — is being presented alongside the garden waste charge as if the two are connected. They are not. Weekly food waste collection should have happened years ago; most London boroughs already do this. Packaging it with a new charge makes a basic improvement look like a concession.

What the council should be doing instead

Boroughs with higher recycling rates invest in doorstep education, contamination monitoring (checking bins and leaving feedback), and better sorting facilities. Kingston has underinvested in all three. Charging for garden waste is the lazy option.

Have your say

The subscription portal opens in March. But before you sign up, consider messaging your ward councillors to ask why Kingston's recycling rate is below average after eight years of the current administration.