We’ll only empty your bins every three weeks

Fear of rats and fly-tipping as councils cut collections

RUBBISH will be left rotting in the streets as a growing number of councils empty bins only once every three weeks, campaigners warned last night.

Residents in other areas, already angry at seeing collections cut to fortnightly, face having to use smaller bins.

Some fear the result will be a rise in flies, rats, bad smells and fly-tipping as bins overflow.

Yet several authorities are considering monthly collections in a bid to cut waste going to landfill.

It is the latest demonstration of the spectacular failure of the Tories’ pledge in opposition that they would restore the ‘fundamental right’ of families to have their bins emptied every seven days.

A study last year found only 6 per cent of councils were operating weekly services.

An investigation by ITV’s Tonight programme earlier this month found that nearly two-thirds of UK homes now have bins collected every fortnight, while five councils in England and Wales had reduced landfill waste collection to once every three weeks.

Oldham council is the latest to announce three-weekly emptying. The Labour-run authority is to move from fortnightly general waste collections in October in a bid to save £1.5million a year.

Critics say the plan is ‘drastic and unhygienic’. Councillors blamed the move on government spending cuts and claimed it could boost recycling rates by 12 per cent. Food and garden waste will still be collected weekly.

Barbara Brownridge, council cabinet member for neighbourhoods, said: ‘Due to government funding cuts, we’ve had to change the way our frontline services work. Over the next few years we want to see to our recycling rates increase so we don’t have to pay huge financial penalties.’

But resident Bernadette Saj, 63, said: ‘Bins will be overflowing. Before you know it, we’ll be overrun with rats.’ Harvey Openshaw, 59, added: ‘Who wants rubbish rotting away in their bin for nearly a month? The smell will be awful.’

Dia Chakravarty, political director of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: ‘Reducing bin collection to every three weeks is a drastic cut to one of the most basic services taxpayers expect their council to provide. How many households will be able to retain three weeks’ rubbish?’

Authorities across Britain are cutting back on the amount they collect. Yesterday Manchester city council finalised a plan to replace 240-litre grey general waste bins with 140-litre bins. All but one of the ten boroughs in Greater Manchester have now either moved to three- weekly collections or reduced the size of bins.

Labour-run Fife council in Scotland last year became the first to trial four-weekly emptying. Parts of Somerset and Northern Ireland have experimented with monthly collections, while Powys and Conwy councils in Wales are considering similar moves.

‘Waste rotting for nearly a month’