TAXPAYERS will find themselves paying twice as much to dispose of old televisions, fridges and sofas after a new Waste Management contract was implemented this week.

Bulky unwanted household items such as electrical goods and furniture used to be picked up by contractors on behalf of Three Rivers District Council at a charge to the taxpayer of just over £20.

This amount has more than doubled, leaving taxpayers paying £47.99 under the new contract awarded to the council's own Three Rivers Waste Services, which came into force on Monday.

The increase is on top of the £16 residents pay directly for the special collection service making a total bill of £63.99 to collect up to five unwanted items.

The public services and health review panel report last month said the increased cost of collections came at a time when government legislation meant the amount of fridges and freezers collected by the council has jumped from six per week last year to 15 a week this year.

From January all CFCs had to be recovered. Previously only the CFC gas had to be disposed of carefully.

This has led to shops refusing to take back the old appliances. The council had not predicted the surge in the cost of collecting the unwanted items.

The public services review report estimated the extra cost to be £16,000, which was not taken into account in the budget.

The report recommended increasing the cost of special collections for householders from £16 to £20, although that has been rejected by the council's executive committee.

A council spokesman said its workers had won the contract from contractors Onyx to take over the special collections. Its price was the cheapest of the tenders.

He said although the £16 special collection charge would remain the same, a price increase was not ruled out.

July 2, 2002 17:00