Weekly bin round axed by half of councils
By Robert Winnett, Deputy Political EditorLast Updated: 6:22am GMT 31/01/2008
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Ministers have been accused of "bullying" councils into ending weekly refuse collections after figures showed that 18 million people across England have their rubbish picked up only once a fortnight. Have your say: Are your collections fortnightly?| |  | Waste collection will be a major issue
in the local elections in May
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The Daily Telegraph has established that at least 155 councils - almost half of all English authorities - have abandoned weekly collections despite public opposition.
Households in areas losing the weekly service - including cities as well as rural areas - complain of increased risk to health caused by rotting food waste. This is also associated with noxious smells, disease and an increased rodent and insect problem.
Health and safety officials have been called to some areas amid complaints from bin men about the weight of wheelie bins they have to move. Councils - under pressure to meet Whitehall "efficiency" targets - have been privately told that cutting weekly collections will help them meet targets and qualify for additional government funding. Over the next few months, dozens more councils are expected to move to fortnightly bin rounds. Last night, Eric Pickles, the shadow communities and local government secretary, said: "Gordon Brown's so-called efficiency review is bullying councils to make savage cuts to front-line services such as rubbish collections, while council tax goes through the roof yet again. "Labour's rubbish cuts are just another tax con: you pay more and get less. "Labour ministers first forced up council tax through fiddled funding and are now forcing councils to axe weekly bin collections, shrink the size of bins and then ban rubbish bags being placed next to bins. "It is increasingly difficult for families to dispose of their rubbish responsibly - leading to more fly-tipping." Waste collection will be a major issue in the local elections in May. Along with cutting weekly collections, councils across Britain are also competing to become the first to be allowed to introduce new "pay-as-you-throw" bin taxes. Five councils will shortly be chosen to pilot the scheme which has also met fierce public opposition. Shortly before last May's local elections, Tony Blair said that he favoured weekly collections. He said he was a "traditionalist" and believed there were "better ways" to encourage recycling. His comments were widely interpreted as attempting to avoid the issue becoming an electoral battleground. A government quango also advised councils not to withdraw weekly collections in the run-up to local elections. However, the latest figures, quietly released in a parliamentary written answer, show that the former prime minister's edict has been abandoned by the Brown administration - with the number of councils dropping weekly bin collections rising steadily. Matthew Elliott, the chief executive of the TaxPayers' Alliance, said: "Cutting bin collections is a slap in the face to families struggling to pay record levels of council tax. "All people want for their money is a decent standard of service and yet councils constantly fail to deliver. "It is shocking that both central and local government are so flagrantly ignoring the wishes of the general public. It is about time councils started to consider the interests of the people who pay for them." Central government uses a complicated formula to award Whitehall grants to councils, one of which is meeting "efficiency targets". Switching to fortnightly collections saves councils money and is used to meet the targets, say ministers. A medium-sized council saves about £1 million annually from abandoning weekly collections. The Local Government Association said the main reason councils were switching was to boost recycling. However, a spokesman admitted: "Cost is an issue. The more money that can be saved collecting rubbish, the more money councils have for other public services." The World Health Organisation recommends that rubbish should be collected weekly in temperate climates such as Britain's. The National Pest Technicians' Association has also warned that fortnightly services were one factor behind the rise in rat infestations. Since 1999, infestations have risen by almost 40 per cent and by 70 per cent in the summer. Doretta Cocks, the founder of the Campaign for Weekly Waste Collection, said: "In the summer months, two weeks in the sun is just too much and leads to an increase in vermin, maggot infestation, putrid smells and lots of other problems. Most other developed countries have weekly or even daily collections." Government research has disputed the risks to health and ministers have published research claiming that abandoning weekly collections does not have a negative impact. Britain has one of the worst recycling records in Europe and councils face hefty EU fines if they do not reduce the amount of waste sent to landfills. Most households therefore now have multiple bins and face £100 on-the-spot fines if they overfill their main wheelie-bin. Council tax under Labour has almost doubled since 1997 increasing from an average of £688 to £1,321 this year for a Band D property. This is more than triple the inflation rate. John Healey, the local government minister, insisted last night that it was up to local councils whether they scrapped weekly collections. He said: "Councils decide how often bins are collected. People rightly want and expect more efficient services from their council. "Efficiency savings have nothing to do with cutting services, in fact councils are not allowed to count anything as an efficiency saving unless they maintain or improve the local service. Any council moving to fortnightly collections would need to show that they meet this test." |
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Daniel Wales asks why the report only applies to England. The reason is because these figures are published by the English Local Govenrment departments. He appears to not yet realise that Wales and Scotland have their own separate governments these days (Wales' government is currently getting House of Lords approval to take more powers for itself and away from Westminster). No doubt the Welsh and Scottish governments will report on their own nations dustbins in due course, but, for a change, the DT has got it right and has explained which nation these results refer to.
As devolution develops and laws between the countries diverge away from each other, we will see far more of this type of thing.
Posted by Chris on January 31, 2008 11:24 AM
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We have weekly collections for waste of differtent types for nearly three years. One week it is unrecyclable waste the next week it is recyclable waste and green compostable waste ( which is different to saying it is fortnightly collections). It works very well in this area as most people co-operate with the District Council which is Cherwell.
They are looking to increase the re-cyclable waste collection in the near future buy including food waste. The majority of residents in this area wonder what all the fuss is nationally
about this type of collection.
My non - recyclable bin is only half full when collected every other week and it certainly doesn't smell. I wash it out twice a year with a mild disinfectant which takes about three minutes on each occasion.
Or if I was really lazy I could use the services of 'The Weely Bin Cleaning' franchise to do it for me at a charge of £5 after each collection of non recyclable waste.
What the hell are the people of this country moaning at, all this nonesense about rats, smells etc., with a bit of commonsense they wouldn't have the problems.
Why don't they stop being so self centred and think of the environment as a whole,the future of the planet and the legacy that we will leave our grandchildren and their children's children.
Posted by Ken Jones on January 31, 2008 11:19 AM
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Recyclable trash: collected fortnightly.
Unrecyclable trash: collected fortnightly.
Collections done on alternate weeks.
Works perfectly.
Posted by Occasional Ostrich on January 31, 2008 11:19 AM
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We in Brighton also have recycling which is operated by lazy untrained operatives that leave bins all over the street, leave most of the items in the bin and on some occasions miss collections altogether. Add this to bi weekly collections and our streets will be nice and filthy by the summer
Posted by john crosskey on January 31, 2008 11:14 AM
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Madness, next we will have reports of disease and more filth on our streets, what is wrong with this government allowing even more cut backs and reductions in community services to save money when on the other hand they award themselves big pay increases. We will all remember this when we next vote
Posted by john crosskey on January 31, 2008 11:08 AM
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All taxes in the dis-UK are a con as the more we pay the more they waste or the 'service' provided gets worse. Now with the recycling lark in Kirklees those who have the mis-fortune to live in this Yorkshire borough with a Scottish name, are having to wadte all things they submit for recycling with the exception of newspapers. Wet newspapers are not accepted neither is glass so poor old Mrs. Scroggins has to wait for her son to come round and take it to the bottle bank which is situated in a supermarket car park. If it is Miss Scroggins with no children then she has to take the bus with her bags of bottles and jars. In 2005 the last year I was in Britain my grey bin was emptied 35 times; when we got the 2 wheelie bins we were told the grey one would be emptied every week. When I rang up to complain I was told that that 'promise' was now 'old hat'. I expect politicians to lie to gain and keep in office but I don't expect the people whose pensions the taxpayers of Kirklees subsidise with 11.7% of their council tax to lie as well. But of course they all use the 'Nuremberg excuse' I/we were only following orders.
Posted by Malcolm Berry on January 31, 2008 11:07 AM
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In Oxford the city is a mess with wheelie bins/recycling boxes in tiny front gardens. Those of us in typical ,Victorian terraced housing without front gardens, (approx. 4,500), are forced to store 2 weeks rubbish in plastic bags before transporting them through the house for collection. Many of the houses are multi-occupied with 6 to 8 people sharing, as they all have their own schedules they do not eat as a family and therefore generate more waste. We have seen some of our streets turn into rubbish tips since the introduction of fortnightly collections. As an ardent recycler I would ask those who accuse people of being lazy etc., to understand that one scheme does not fit all. Fortnightly collections will never work properly in an urban area with a large transient population such as ours.
Posted by Eric on January 31, 2008 10:59 AM
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We have fortnightly collections, and they are no problem whatsoever. We never accumulate extra refuse, and enjoy recycling.
Posted by Jane Blythe on January 31, 2008 10:51 AM
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We have been "recycling" for many years ( West Berks.) with a weekly rubbish collection - efficient, clean and with clear info. provided. The Conservatives have pledged to maintain the service.
Those councils that have been failing to organise recycling properly over the last decade are the ones which appear to have had to resort to fortnightly collections.
Poor organisation and dumb economics are now resulting in blatant spin to convince ratepayers that all is well with no health hazard and it will be the same councils trying to charge this extra stealth tax to cover-up appalling mismanagement over the last few years.
People are sick and tired of Labour's taxes and pressure on local council funding, and their Stalinist approach ( with plenty of misinformation and spin) resulting in recycling "enforcement" and Third World fortnightly rubbish collections.
Those sycophants supporting fortnightly collections are no doubt of the ilk that believes that Man is responsible for climate change.
In France,there are examples of good organisation with some collections for recycling and waste being weekly, and in some Mediterranean areas, daily.
The councils in the UK providing this reported pathetic service should be held to account at the elections.
Posted by Paul Butler on January 31, 2008 10:46 AM
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Here in Stirling we have had fortnightly collections for several years and it works well. One week the kitchen waste is collected whilst, on the other, garden waste incl cardboard is uplifted. Bottles/glass, cans and (limited) plastics are picked up every week.
I compost all raw "greenery" from the kitchen, as well as most cardboard, and in consequence our kitchen waste seldom exceeds one-third of a typical wheelie bin. This for two people. We have no problems with maggots, rats, etc especially in hot weather - but unlike some we waste little food.
Others in my street have overflowing kitchen waste bins when the fortnightly collection is due and the Council is giving them warnings, before fines are imposed - and quite right too! Some people are just too damn lazy to make conscious efforts to reduce and recycle waste and they should be hit hard in their pockets. That would concentrate their minds!
Posted by Kenilworth on January 31, 2008 10:40 AM
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I don't find fortnightly collections a huge problem but am fortunate to have a small household & a large garden to store my bins. Only had maggots once but now double wrap everything & use a proprietary cleansing fluid as well as hose out my bins regularly. What I do object to is the recycling banner being waved in my face - our Council only takes plastic bottles, no glass & the usual paper stuffs.People who put their recyling bins out with hardly anything in them are not being green at all - just bloody minded - the " I pay my Council Tax so they can damn well empty my bin!" brigade!
Posted by sue southern on January 31, 2008 10:40 AM
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We have limited recycling on alternate weeks in Wokingham area, and a green waste bin the other week. The Bins are collected weekly, but we don't have wheelie bins. I suspect that as with all other policies there is far too much looking at the stick and not enough time looking at the carrot for encouraging recycling or green behaviour, how about less "Green" taxes and more tax breaks for Green behaviour and I suspect that'll work far better and alienate the voters less.
Posted by Mike Wokingham on January 31, 2008 10:32 AM
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Councils use the recycling label as a cover up. Of course its about money. Now they have filled our streets with rodents, they have started to refuse to empty over-filled bins (elfen safety!) I mean, you could not make this stuff up.
This is about using peoples desire and goodwill to help the environment as a club to beat them with. Refuse collectors have turned into rude and bullying jobsworths. Any power, any uniform, it never fails!
I cycle every day around the country lanes and bridle paths of my area. The enivironment there is now filling up with appalling amounts of fly tipped waste. I bet this is true in every area.
Great result Bracknell Forest!!
Posted by Geoff Brough on January 31, 2008 10:31 AM
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The bin debacle stems from our duplicitous craven power hungry politicians at all levels and is nothing to do with the environment or providing the public the decent service they deserve (and pay excessive taxes for). Our communist lords and masters, together with their chums the LiberalDemagogs were very quick to see that by scrapping weekly collections, the monies saved could be used on other politically correct pet projects; arguments that this is an environmental measure are wholly spurious - it is about money, our money and how these muppets with their snouts in the trough waste it or consume it themselves. Did anybody anywhere ever get a vote on this matter? Would NuLabour have won the election had cutting refuse collections been in their manifesto? The expansion of the state under comrade Brown has to be paid for somehow. The answer is simple - vote this shower and the LiberalDemagogs out of opower or suffer the inevitable slide into being a soviet of the socialist republic of europe.
Posted by BringBackWeeklyBinCollections on January 31, 2008 10:17 AM
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this is just another slap in the face for the british people. our services go down and the costs go up, it si falling apart and we are playing the fiddle while it happens.
we the people vote these idiots in we should vote them out, as soon as they are elected the promises made go out the window and their only concern is how much can i make by doing as little as possible.
Posted by david clayton on January 31, 2008 10:12 AM
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I have seen the Spanish system and it is excellent. And I agree that fortnightly collections can work.
I wonder if the real issue here is a complete lack of trust and confidence in the motives and abilities of those that govern us, both at a local and national level.
Posted by Polly on January 31, 2008 10:04 AM
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I am in complete agreement with Edward Royle from York (see above). Derby City Council provide a similar service - brown bin (food, garden, cardboard waste), blue bin (plastic bottles, glass and cans), paper in bags and textiles collected one week, other 'black bin' waste the next. From a consumers point of view this is clean, tidy, efficient and sensible. All should follow these examples.
Posted by David Bullock on January 31, 2008 9:46 AM
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Three times last year our rubbish was
collected at six weekly intervals due to
absences on collection days, which
absences we do not wish to advertise to
potential wrongdoers. Likewise recycling
was twice collected after a six week
interval. Each time the relevant bins were
full and vey heavy to shift. With weekly
collections the maximum delay would
have been three weeks.
Posted by Jean and norman white on January 31, 2008 9:34 AM
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Recycling is a con.
The Local Authorities don't just take the rubbish from your doorstep and put it in a hole in the ground. First it goes to a processing centre where people (paid by the community charge) remove what can be recycled.
By making YOU sort it, the local authorities reduce the number of people in processing centres so reducing their costs and don't pass on the saving to the tax payer - who now is doing their job for them. Whether you put a glass bottle in the bin or in a bottle bank - it gets recycled.
Posted by Dr P on January 31, 2008 9:19 AM
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Not yet, but I would certainly vote against any council or government that supported such an action.
Posted by Simon Marshland on January 31, 2008 9:18 AM
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City of York Council collects 'grey' rubbish and 'green' rubbish alternate weeks. This is an efficient and effective way of separating landfill rubbish from recyclable rubbish and causes no inconvenience at all. Why is The Telegraph running such a negative campaign?
Posted by Edward Royle on January 31, 2008 9:14 AM
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Our council states to collect plastic for recycling causes massive lorries moving hundreds of miles to get rid of that plastic. We have at the moment weekly collections, paper, tins and glass bottles are collected fortnightly along with kitchen waste. Cardboard is not collected for recycling unless you take to the council tips.
All that higher council taxes and cut back of services is to pay for the ever increasing pension costs of those councils all due to the present PM stealing from Pension Funds making most of them into deficits. Until we get rid of New Labour with a proper Labour Party that looks after the ordinary person we get ever increasing taxes to cover military operations oversees.
Posted by Ted on January 31, 2008 9:09 AM
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North Warwickshire still collect rubbish weekly - mind you thay have too their recycling program is terrible. 2 small boxes for glass and cans (no lids of any sort or labels or they throw them all over your lawn) are collectd fortnightly as is the green bin which again is for SMALL twigs, grass cuttings and clean, unprinted card. We cannot put food waste, dirt etc in the green waste!! They are talking about putting plastic collection points around N.Warwickshire for us to take our stuff too, but as usual no allowance is made for Rural area's were we get buses Monday to Friday every couple of hours only. So everyone who's moaning should move here for a month were, yes we have rats, but we have loads of Field mice and foxes who much prefer human waste to hunting for their food. Oh, and did i mention our council tax is higher than Westminster, Chelsea & Knightsbridge!!
Posted by Susan James on January 31, 2008 9:00 AM
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We have family living in Holland ( 5 in the household) and they have had fortnightly collections for some years now and it has not produced any problems. Their climate is similar to ours.
Posted by rob .howie on January 31, 2008 8:59 AM
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I wish my rubbish was collected as frequently as that!!
My recycling hasn't been collected since 31st Jan last year and I am in a weekly collection area for general waste and fortnightly for recycling.
After frequent phonecalls, official complaints and promised phonecalls I'm still waiting for Plymouth City Council to empty my bin. I call each week and am promised an interim collection and then, quick as a flash, nothing happens!
I've have used disposable nappies strewn in my rear access lane, and in spite of informing PCC two weeks ago, they are still there.
My immediate neighbours are in a similar situation too of course.
How can PCC provide less than this for a higher charge?
Posted by Denise Blake on January 31, 2008 8:33 AM
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We've had fortnightly collections (or alternate week collections, as the Council calls them) for around 15 months. When they were first introduced, my neighbours' bins were overflowing, but now they have picked up the habit of recycling, the system is working well.
By the way - why does the Telegraph survey only concern England? Waste collection doesn't stop at Offa's Dyke nor at Hadrian's Wall.
Posted by Daniel Wales on January 31, 2008 8:21 AM
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No, our bins are emptied every week as is our REcycle collection. Garden Waste is collected bimonthly in the summer and monthly in the winter.
We are in the Torridge District. If bins are emptied fortnightly I consider that there will be a public health problem as many people do not have the facility to hold rubbish for two weeks.
Posted by G P Coombe on January 31, 2008 8:17 AM
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I live in Spain in a 4-bedroom bungalow: my IBI or Council Tax is 34 Euros a year. My bins are emptied every day including Sundays. Local people don't believe me when I tell them how much I used to pay in the UK.
Posted by Ralph Chambers on January 31, 2008 7:47 AM
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I'm a busy executive with a young family. Being a highly consumptive household, we generate a lot of refuse. However, after getting into some good recycling habits, I find we only need to leave our wheelie bin out once a fortnight - even though we have weekly collections.
Unless you live in very tight accommodation, I'm convinced that it's possible to cope with fortnightly collections. My experience with people who can't is that they're simply too lazy or disorganised to recycle effectively.
Posted by DrNo on January 31, 2008 7:46 AM
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A good time to bury bad news. How typically cynical and underhand to stop weekly collections during the coldest, wettest time of the year, in the hope that by the time the weather warms up and the more gross problems of fortnightly collections become evident the public will be resigned to the fact. Just like bringing in the smoking ban during the summer to avoid the risk of freezing angry smokers marching on Whitehall.
If the people making these decisions had a shred of decency they would resign on principal.
Posted by Anthony Higham on January 31, 2008 7:29 AM
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Once again the decent, normal people are being penalised, we are just trying to live day to day & get by and do the best for our families. The cost of council tax continues to go up & up for what? Recycle more we here the call, yes no problem, give us walkable local facilities to get rid of our glass & paper then & we will, is it or any benefit having to jump into the car to go to the local dump it site when my bin is full or to deposit bottles at the nearest (loose term) bottle bank?? Back to the floods of last year, when I was growing up it was a bi annual event to see the roadside drains in the street being cleaned, in ten years at my current address I have never witnessed this happening. As a result they are all totally full of mud & moderate rainfall results in a mad torrent of water going down the road as it has nowhere to go, my point being another service that has quietly disappeared, genius move to save some budget somewhere, helped saved the country a fortune eh!! All we want is some fairness in all of this!!!
Posted by John. A. on January 31, 2008 7:10 AM
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Hysterical. Our rubbish is collected from outside our front door 3 times a week. If I don't want to wait I can take it 500 metres to a central point - anything, old TV sets.. Anything large like say a wardrobe you have to make a phone call and it will be collected within a week no extra charge. Oh! did I mention, I have just looked up my last receipt 2007/8 for rubbish collection and sewage treatment and it was....wait for it.. €114.77 that's Euros. If other countries can do it what ever happened to Britain?? The malaise is very deep but we all knew that didn't we?
Posted by Ripsnorter (a very happy ex-pat) Málaga Spain on January 31, 2008 7:02 AM
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I live in Germany. When our council introduced fortnightly bin rounds about 10 years ago, I too was annoyed. But now because of recycling schemes I don't have enough rubbish even for a fortnightly collection. (And even this is recycled in the local incinerator which is a heat-and-power station.) What's needed is imagination. If bin rounds are reduced simply to save money, then of course there's a problem.
Posted by michael scuffil on January 31, 2008 6:58 AM
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Ours are collected fortnightly and it works well, and has done by Fenland DC for a couple of years.
We have three big bins, the green one for general refuse being collected one week, and the blue (recyclable for plastic bottles, newsprint, cardboard etc, cans, etc) along with the brown (garden rubbish, food cardboard, food waste) the other week.
Regarding food waste which people seem frightened of with maggots, etc usually goes in brown bin, but in hot weather can go in green bin which means that it can be collected weekly when needed.
Posted by Mary on January 31, 2008 6:50 AM
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