There has been a lot of comment in recent days about the council’s plan for fortnightly bin collections.
I raised the issue with the council’s director of environment and he confirmed his department are in the process of preparing a report to go to committee in March setting out the proposed future strategy for waste collection and recycling.
Apparently a number of scenarios have been considered all of which involve some form of weekly collections of waste being undertaken. However the key change will be about what it is that is collected on a weekly basis. I understand the council are looking at the introduction of fortnightly collections for residual waste i.e. household rubbish not able to be recycled, re-used or composted, but that any such proposal would be on the basis that there is an increase in the provision of recycling facilities and collections for residents across the city, which would offset the loss of a weekly collection for residual waste. The aim is to significantly reduce the amount of residual waste that has to collected and disposed of and to increase the amount of recyclate collected be it paper, metals, plastics or food.
The UK Government is opposed to fortnightly bin collections and has made money available to local authorities in England to retain weekly collections. When local government secretary Eric Pickles announced plans for a £250million fund he called weekly collections a basic right and described rubbish being taken away as the most visible council service people get.
I have concerns about the impact that fortnightly bin collections will have, including bad smells, vermin and seagull attacks on bin bags.
What do you think? Let me know.
