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Tory pledge to restore weekly bin collections 'to be dropped' Tory pledge to restore weekly bin collections to be dropped
(about 4 hours later)
A high-profile Conservative pledge to restore weekly bin collections will be abandoned, it has been reported. Efforts to make councils restore household weekly bin collections are to be abandoned, as ministers fail to reverse the trend towards fortnightly waste rounds.
Ministers have conceded that there will be no new initiatives to persuade councils to return to seven-day collections, according to the Mail. There will be no new initiatives to persuade local authorities to bring back weekly pick-ups of domestic waste, despite a high-profile pledge made by the Conservatives to preserve the “basic right” of householders to have their rubbish collected each week.
In the last parliament, the then communities secretary, Eric Pickles, championed a £250m programme intended to halt the trend towards fortnightly collections. However, it failed to convince any local authority to go back to weekly bin rounds. “Ineffective” and “expensive” funding for weekly bin collections is not likely to survive the latest spending review, a source has told the Daily Mail, as unprotected departments are asked to find savings of up to 40% as part of public spending cuts of £20bn.
The Mail quoted a government source as saying it was unlikely to survive the forthcoming spending review. Under the coalition government, the then communities secretary, Eric Pickles, announced a controversial £250m fund to support councils to keep or return to weekly collections for residual waste.
“It is a very expensive scheme and it has proved to be a pretty ineffective one,” the source said. “It would be very surprising if it survives the spending review. There are other priorities. It’s time to move on.” But it failed to convince councils to switch back from fortnightly collections of black bin rubbish, with local authorities claiming it was too expensive to do so. Instead, councils boosted recycling rates and residents were happy with the schemes.
A spokeswoman for the Department for Communities and Local Government said it continued to support frequent bin collections. At the time, just five councils – out of the 85 that secured funding – were named by the department for communities and local government as having plans to return to weekly collections: Stoke-on-Trent city council; Manchester city council; Rochford district council; Canterbury city council and Great Yarmouth borough council.
“The government encourages councils to support the wishes of local people, many of whom believe every household in England has a basic right to have their rubbish taken away every week,” said the spokeswoman. Manchester has denied it ever had such plans, instead spending the money on improving existing waste collection services for residents.
“The government continues to champion frequent and convenient bin collections, which protect the environment and public health. We will also be working with local authorities to make recycling easier for people. Stoke-on-Trent ended its plans for a return to weekly collections last year after a feasibility study revealed it would cost around £34m more than the council’s existing household waste and recycling scheme – far more than the grant it had been offered.
“This department also published guidance on weekly rubbish collections, which showed that local authorities can make savings while not harming the quality of the service that local taxpayers receive.” A spokeswoman for the department for communities and local government said it continues to support frequent bin collections.
“The government encourages councils to support the wishes of local people, many of whom believe every household in England has a basic right to have their rubbish taken away every week,” said the spokeswoman. “The government continues to champion frequent and convenient bin collections which protect the environment and public health. We will also be working with local authorities to make recycling easier for people.
“This department also published ‘guidance on weekly rubbish collections’ which showed that local authorities can make savings while not harming the quality of the service that local taxpayers receive,” she said.
Peter Box, the environment spokesman for the local government association, said: “There is no one size fits all solution to collecting bins. What works in an inner city suburb won’t necessarily work in the countryside. Decisions are best made at a local level, with councils working with residents to find the best solution for them.
“We know this local approach works as our own polling shows almost 80% of people are happy with the way their bins are collected and satisfaction rates are broadly the same regardless of whether people have weekly, or alternate weekly collections,” said Box.
But he said collecting and disposing of waste and recycling had become the third highest cost service for councils and spending would have to significantly increase to meet EU recycling targets of 50%.
The £250m provided in the weekly bin collections fund would go a long way, Box said, to helping local authorities meet the future pressures on their waste collecting services.