Three week black bin plans face axe
THE council looks set to scrap proposals to empty black bins in Stockport once every three weeks – after a backlash.
It was announced in September that the council was considering the switch, from every two weeks, in a bid to save £250,000 annually on staff and vehicle costs.
But the possibility sparked anger with a 2,000 signature online petition opposing it.
As a result the council has said it is now ‘unlikely’ the plan will go ahead, even though consultation on it does not end until December 23.
Councillor Sheila Bailey, executive member for communities and housing, said: “Making decisions about issues that affect residents should be done openly and with transparency.
“Having taken all the consultation responses to date into account and also the evidence from the additional work that has been carried out, it is unlikely that this proposal will proceed.
“However, the consultation has a few more weeks to run and we have to give everyone an opportunity to have their say.”
During consultation the council conducted its own survey to assess what spare capacity were in the borough’s black bins.
It found that of 1,500 households three quarters had black bins that were between 75 and 100 per cent full at time of collection.
Also taken into consideration was the fact that 12,000 homes in Stockport use two black bins.
Under the proposals homes would have been given a bigger black bin measuring 180 litres rather than 140.
This would have been paid for with borrowed money repaid at £214,000 a year for two decades.
Overall the plans would have left Stockport residents with the lowest black bin capacity in the UK. But the increase in recycling could have raised £1m annually and Coun Bailey has urged residents to still do their bit. She said: “Evidence suggests putting less in black bins to more into recycling bins is possible.
“If so we could achieve the same reduction in residual waste as the proposal outlined without changing collection frequency or the size of bins.
“Our recycling rate stands at 59 per cent. With a small increase we could achieve significant savings, it has been up to 63.7 per cent. In the New Year we will launch a campaign to reach that again or even more.”