Councils will not be forced to abandon the fortnightly refuse collections, this is the conclusion arrived at by the government’s waste review. The move away from weekly bin collections prompted anger from householders who now have to tolerate their waste for two weeks at home.

The government’s waste review has concluded that there is a ‘reasonable expectation’ for local authorities to collect rubbish weekly, although they cannot be forced to do so. The review stated “We will continue to help local communities develop fit for purpose local solutions for collecting and dealing with household waste and work with councils to meet households’ reasonable expectations for weekly collections, particularly of smelly waste.”

Speculation had arisen that extra funding might have been provided by the government to fund a return to weekly rubbish collections, but this was proved incorrect.

Julian Kirby a waste campaigner for Friends of the Earth said politicians’ fixation with weekly bin collections missed the point, however. “Ministers must stop trying to bully councils into running weekly bin rounds - fortnightly collections are hygienic and popular, provided they’re accompanied by decent recycling and weekly food waste pick-ups too,” he said.

“Weekly bin collections are more expensive to run and lead to less waste being recycled, which is bad news for cash-strapped councils and families and bad news for the environment.”

The use of microchips on bins by councils to monitor the waste usage of residents will be banned. Also banned will be fines for those that overfill their bins and those that leave their bins out on the wrong collection days.

“We will remove criminal sanctions applying to householders and ensure that the level of fines local authorities can impose are appropriate,” the review added.

“In addition, we are repealing certain powers of entry in England that currently enable local authorities to inspect household waste.”

• Posted in Community, News
• No Comments
• Tags: collection, councils, rubbish, weekly