THE controversial Derby City Council brown bin charge was planned, at one stage, to be just £20 – half of what it is currently set at.
This revelation appears to lend weight to claims made already by Tory opposition councillor Chris Poulter that the charge is higher than the cost of collection.
The Labour-led authority's paid-for service will start on April 15. Households wanting their brown bin emptied will have to pay £40 a year for the first bin and £20 a year for any additional bin.
But an options appraisal of how the council could save money through its waste management, completed in October 2012, shows it had at one stage proposed charges of £20 and £10.
Councillor Ranjit Banwait, cabinet member responsible for the collections, previously said that the scheme, aimed at saving £1.2 million a year, was being introduced because of "the worst Government cuts in history".
Mr Poulter had said that the council was not being transparent about what the £40 per bin charge covered.
Now a Freedom of Information request from environmentalist Simon Bacon has brought the appraisal to light. It says: "The charges proposed of £20 for the first bin and £10 for each additional bin are relatively low compared with other councils that have adopted the policy."
There are councils that charge more than Derby. In Harlow, Essex, the charge is £90 a year and it is £71 in Kingston, Surrey.
But in Leicester, the price this year will be £20, rising to £30 in 2015, and it is £35 in Birmingham.
Mr Poulter said the appraisal document seemed to confirm what he had "always suspected".
He said: "Obviously they are taking further income which they are going to use to achieve their budget target. The council wants to put itself forward as open and honest with the public but this is a clear example of where they are not."
Mr Poulter had previously estimated the cost of brown bin collection was £20 a household.
Mr Bacon, chairman of Sinfin and Spondon Against Incineration, which has been battling a waste treatment plant set for Sinfin, said the apparent increase from £20 was "highly questionable".
He said that the cost of collection and disposal in 2012-13 was about £20 per bin, including food waste.
He said: "This shows the true cost of the service to the council and highlights what service the council should be offering and the fee it should charge residents if a charge can be justified."
The council has been aiming for 20% – about 21,000 – of the city's households to sign up for the service to reach its £1.2 million target, which would help towards the £78.9 million it needs to save over the next three years.
Up to today, it had signed up 9,378.
Mr Poulter said: "That's about one household in 10 and seems to be a resounding rejection of the policy."
A council spokeswoman said: "Different levels of charges for collecting garden waste were considered and £40 per annum was chosen, which is comparable to the charge levied by other councils."
