IN answer to Cllr Philip Eades’s letter of February 27, he fails to explain the true facts of the new “opt in” kerbside green waste collection scheme.

The scheme needs 8,000 households to sign up for it to break even.

Any surplus can be used to offset Poole’s massive budget pressure of £18million over the next three years. Presently 12,500 Poole households have signed up.

I attended a recent green bin promotion road show in the Dolphin Centre and was amazed at the number of people who said ‘we don’t live in Poole but we wish we did so that we could have the opportunity to buy into your green bin scheme’.

There is no shame in providing a service which can generate income for the benefit of all Poole residents.

At the full chargeable rate of £31 per year that equates to just 86p for each collection, far cleaner and cheaper for our residents in terms of time and petrol costs in taking green waste to the recycling centre or collection points.

Those households signing up before March 31 will only pay £21 for 2012/13 and the scheme has a concession of 50 per cent reduction for people holding Poole’s Access to Leisure and Learning cards.

This is a fair scheme where those that want the service can pay a very modest fee to receive it and at no cost to all council tax payers.

The days of free discretionary services in our cash strapped council are past. No one expects something for nothing and the proof of this is manifest in the currently 12,500 households (and rising daily), who have bought into this sound value for money scheme.

CLLR JUDES BUTT Portfolio holder for public engagement and participation, Borough of Poole