No move toward weekly bin collections in Telford
A government pledge to restore weekly bin collections will be abandoned, it has been reported. But councillors in Telford say they never had any intention of changing the current fortnightly collection service.
Ministers have conceded that there will be no new initiatives to persuade councils to return to seven-day collections.
In the last parliament, the then communities secretary Sir Eric Pickles championed a £250 million programme intended to halt the trend towards fortnightly collections.
However it failed to convince any local authority to go back to weekly bin rounds.
Councillor Shaun Davies, cabinet member for business, neighbourhood and customer services at Telford & Wrekin Council, said today: "We have never had any intention of returning to weekly collections because they are no longer needed as most people recycle a high proportion of their rubbish.
"A return to weekly collections would cost a fortune to deliver and I am pleased that the Government are now recognising this and look likely to abandon their manifesto pledge of weekly bin collections.
"We have been working to ensure that people recycle as much as possible so that we can escape additional landfill charges.
"Recycling rates in the borough have been increasing year on year and are now at over 52 per cent.
"If we were to introduce weekly collections, recycling would go down as people would just put more in their general bins."
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."
Steve Charmley, Shropshire Council's Cabinet member responsible for waste management, said: "Shropshire Council has no plans to change the frequency of household waste collections."
