PEOPLE could be charged to have grass clippings and other green waste taken away by Monmouthshire Council.

The council is floating the idea with a yearly charge of £40 being the likely cost for the service.

Other local authorities charge between £25 and £45 for similar services, a report on the issue showed.

It is expected that half the households in the county would sign up to service bringing in £420,000 for the council after costs are taken into account.

The money saved by introducing charges for green waste would allow more to spent in other "priority areas", said the council's waste strategy and resources manager Rachel Jowett.

Residents will also be encouraged to compost green waste to reduce the amount that is taken away by the council.

The council currently pays £64 a tonne to compost the green waste it collects and a 500 tonne reduction in collections would save £32,000.

If people were to take the waste to the recycling centre at Five Lanes it would cost the council £40.39 a tonne to treat it, a saving of £24.61 per tonne.

Last year the council collected 6,606 tonnes of green waste.

At present householders put green waste into a reusable sacks which cost £1 each and up to five sacks a week can be put out.

The public will be consulted on three possible options on how the service would work.

Those who sign up could be issued with five new, differently coloured bags and in future years are either issued with new bags or given tags as proof of payment.

Wheelie bins could be introduced with householders paying per bin and are given a licence like a tax disc to place on the bin.

The third option would be for householders to buy rolls of disposable bags.

The council is looking to start charging by May at the latest but there could be difficulties in having the infrastructure in place.

Wheelie bins would take several months to arrive so the council could opt for the cheaper bag scheme this year.