The resident who signed up for Poole’s 21,000th green bin received a gift wrapped delivery of his garden waste wheelie.

Borough of Poole controversially started charging £31 this year for what had been a 22,000-strong free scheme, to enable it to offer the fortnightly kerbside collection throughout the town.

Robert Dorrell, pictured,, has taken delivery of the 21,000th green bin, delivered personally by Cllr Xena Dion, cabinet portfolio holder for the environment.

“This service is really important to us as we can now generate a lot of garden waste throughout the year,” said Mr Dorrell of St Mary’s Road. “Our waste is now disposed of on a regular basis in an environmentally friendly way.”

The service runs from March to November and so far this year has collected 2,569 tonnes of garden waste compared to 2,032 tonnes this time last year.

Since it began 10,748 tonnes of black bin waste has been collected compared with 11,645 tonnes this time last year. The 900 tonnes of waste diverted from landfill has saved more than £60,000 in tax.

The kerbside garden waste scheme was introduced with a government grant and was for a third of homes in Poole. Now available to all, 50 residents a week are signing up.

This year’s garden waste service runs until November. Go to boroughofpoole.com/gardenwaste.