A garden waste recycling service has proved so popular that a waiting list has been set up for new customers who want a brown bin.

King’s Lynn and West Norfolk Borough council’s garden waste service is at capacity and the service, which began in 2007, has been frozen so that new customers can only be taken on once someone has opted out freeing up a bin.

The service has grown from 6,000 customers to nearly 20,000 now, with around 7,000 tonnes of garden waste being turned into compost every year.

All new customers will be placed on the waiting list, with those orders being dealt with when a bin becomes available as a result of someone relinquishing theirs.

Cllr Brian Long, Cabinet Member for Environment, said: “The brown bin service is a victim of its own success. Demand has consistently grown and we are now in a position where there is no capacity for further collections.

“In the future it might be possible to introduce a further collection vehicle, but at a cost of nearly £120,000, we simply can’t justify this investment as there are no densely populated areas for us to grow the service into, and we would need a minimum of 2,000 new customers to make it financially viable.

“We would remind people awaiting a bin, that they may be able to make arrangements with a neighbour to share their brown bin if they are an existing customer.

From April 1, the cost for a brown bin will be £41 a year.