A council meeting concerning the recycling schemes of local towns, including Atherstone's green bins, has taken place this week.

A better take-up than expected means North Warwickshire Borough Council's £40 green bin service is already 'washing its face'.

That was the message from Richard Dobbs, the council's corporate director of Streetscape, responsible for refuse and recycling, when he spoke at this week's meeting of the community and environment board.

The new charge was introduced in April after a delay of nearly 12 months due to the pandemic, but in his report to councillors he explained that there had already been a take-up rate of 55 per cent which rose to 60 per cent of residents when people took into account the number of properties without gardens.

It was anticipated that the level would have between 40 and 55 per cent.

He said: "Demand for permits remained steady during the early weeks of the service and while take-up was understandably highest in February and March householders continue to subscribe to the service with around 75 new permits still being issued weekly.

To help offset the cost to residents, each permit sent out entitled the householder to claim discounts worth more than £100 at Planters Garden Centres and the company has reported that 5,000 vouchers had already been redeemed.

Mr Dobbs added: "At the moment I would say that people are putting the right waste in the right bins and we will continue to monitor this.

"I think 55 per cent represents a good performance particularly in North Warwickshire which doesn't have as many large gardens as some other parts of the county and it is still the case that people are still signing up for this service.

Earlier in the meeting, councillors were informed that in the three months up to the end of June there had been an underspend of £139,566 and much of this was due to the higher than expected income from the green bin service although some of that was offset by an overspend on staffing costs due to agency workers being needed to carry out extra collections during the pandemic.