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Cost-cutting residents should start urinating in their gardens in order to avoid Canterbury City Council’s pricey bin collection service.
So says green-fingered councillor Ashley Clark, who believes emptying a full bladder on compost heaps is a “marvellous win-win” for both the environment and people’s wallets.
His suggestion comes after the cash-strapped authority voted through plans to introduce an annual £45 fee for garden waste bins to be emptied.
Instead of forking out for the “utterly bonkers” collection service - plus £52 to buy a green bin - nature-loving Cllr Clark wants more gardeners to take up composting and to not let a full bladder go to waste.
Urine acts an accelerator for the chemical process in a compost heap, which helps to enrich soil and acts as a fertiliser to help grow vegetables.
“It works absolutely lovely,” Cllr Clark said.
“You could pee into a watering can and then sprinkle it over the compost, or there’s the more athletic method of just going straight out there and doing it direct. There’s a certain degree of risk at being spotted in your garden. But it can be applied discreetly.
“It works wonders and is a marvellous win-win as it’s good for the environment and you’re saving on the water bill as you don’t need to flush the toilet. Four to five pints a week on the compost heap wouldn’t hurt.”
Rich in nitrogen and phosphorus, urine has been used for generations to help plants grow. In 2009, the National Trust ran a trial in which gardeners at Wimpole Hall, Cambridgeshire, were encouraged to wee onto a straw bale.
KentOnline revealed last week how residents across the district will soon have to pay £2.13 a fortnight for their green bins to be emptied - more than anywhere else in the county.
The council admits the introduction of a fee “is all the about the money” as it aims to generate more income.
But Cllr Clark said: “Collecting garden waste is completely and utterly bonkers.
“The average gardener - let’s call him Mr Green - collects his garden waste and puts it in his council bin. The council lorry then comes along spewing diesel fumes all over the place and travelling all over the district.
“It’s collected and taken all the way to Sandwich. Then another lorry comes along and picks up some of the waste to take it to a factory where it’s mixed with other composted waste and put into big plastic bags.
“Then another lorry comes along and takes it all the way to a garden centre - where Mr Green, more fool him - goes along and pays a fiver a time to buy these plastic bags full of compost which he takes back to his garden. If Mr Green had a half a brain, he’d get a compost heap in his garden.”
Despite speaking out against the scheme, Whistable resident Cllr Clark voted in favour of the proposal at last Wednesday’s community committee meeting.
“We shouldn’t be collecting this garden waste at all - it beggars belief,” he said.
“The council shouldn’t be making money out of something that is environmentally inappropriate,” he added.
He said: “If we have to charge people as an incentive to make them do the right thing and start composting, then that’s great.”
Councillors voted seven to five in favour of introducing the £45-per-year collection fee. The proposal will be put before another committee before being introduced in June if approved.
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