RESIDENTS are being reminded to renew their subscription to the council's garden waste collection scheme.

Existing members have until March 9 to sign up for the 2018/19 collections for an annual fee of £50.

Letters are being posted to customers over the coming weeks to remind households about the deadline.

More than 15,000 households have signed up to the garden waste scheme since annual fees were introduced last April to tackle 'unprecedented' government cuts.

Councillor Liz Terry, lead member for Neighbourhoods, said: “Thousands of Reading households are enjoying the convenience of having their garden waste regularly collected from the kerbside.

“Existing members of the green waste scheme need to act before March 9 to ensure they continue to benefit from this popular service, at the same price, for another year.”

Anyone without one of the council's waste collection stickers will not have their bins collected.

The service was previously free of charge for more than 10 years, but the council could no longer afford to subsidise the collections.

The annual fee of £50 includes up to two green bins, or £15 for households with one or two green bags.

Visit: www.reading.gov.uk/garden-waste to find out more.