Fortnightly bin collections could be introduced in Walsall, making the authority the first council in the Black Country to start the controversial pick-ups.
The plans come despite the council reassuring householders six weeks ago that the weekly service would remain.
Today it was revealed residents will be given the choice of fortnightly collections or a weekly collection but with a smaller bin.
Walsall Council says a change must be made and will be in force by March 2009. A questionnaire has been sent to 5,000 randomly-selected households.
Residents must choose whether they want Option A - a fortnightly collection using a 240-litre wheeled bin, or Option B - a weekly collection in a 140-litre wheeled bin.
This comes despite an insistence on June 25 by cabinet member Rachel Walker that there were no plans to change the system.
Keith Stone, Walsall Council assistant director for built environment, said government legislation had prompted the move.
He said the authority must reduce landfill from 70,000 tonnes a year to just 26,200 by 2020. He said: “Quite simply we face a penalty of £150 for every tonne we take to landfill over government targets.”
18 Comments
Option B you get an additional 40 litres every fortnight and it’s collected weekly, it’s a no brainer, unless I’m missing the point.
How about reduced Council Tax for households with smaller bins? (although could end up being a stealth form of the Poll Tax)
I can’t even get a recycling box from Walsall MBC, despite requests. Nobody in our street has a box though I was told the whole borough has now received them. How are we to manage with a smaller bin with a weekly collection, if we don’t have a recycling box to hold that waste we can’t fit in the smaller bin? We also have a rat problem and my garden has been treated once already this summer - the idea of a bin sitting outside my front door (that’s where they thoughtfully built the bin store), cooking for 8 hours in the sun, welcoming my visitors with rancid odours wafting along the path, and not being emptied for 2 weeks, fills me with dread!
Maggots, Rats, pest infestation and dreadful smells. Don’t even think of having fish during the first day after the bins have been emptied especially during hot weather. Try and get your children and pets potty trained as soon as possible . Welcome the residents of Walsall to purgatory - you have been warned !
This must be good news !!
Surely as they will be taking less waste and thereby offering a reduced service to every household they will be reducing the relevant part of the community charge ………
Or am I being silly?
take this bit of advice from someone who has lived with fortnightly collections for almost a year now.
Dont let them bring this in to effect. Insist they continue to collect waste every week, dont bow down to them, they wont refund the council tax savings they make from it.
You will suffer with maggots and flies in and around your bin during the warmer weeks. also mice and rat populations are bigger than ever in areas who have fortnightly collections.
DONT LET THEM DO IT.
Presumably they expect us not to notice that 2 x 140 = 280 litres per fortnight if we opt for weekly collection, as opposed to 240 litres of smelly, fermenting rubbish in the larger bin!
Reducing the amount which will be collected by the council is being done in the name of recycling but it is more likely cost cutting.
If the council really are trying to reduce landfill amounts then why do they not collect plastic and cardboard for recycling? and why are the recycling boxes a third of the size of a ‘wheelie bin’ and only collected fortnightly.
The fact that the recycling bins can be heavy when full with glass, paper and tins once again shows how the council members have no concern for the elderly who struggle to lift these heavy loads.
A fortnightly collection will lead to waste pilling up, rotting food and soiled nappies- they struggle to keep the hospitals clean what chance have they with the streets, tthis will lead to increased fly tipping.
Improving the doorstep recycling scheme would be a far better place to start in reducing landfill. Judging by the number of green boxes left outside every fortnight, people have really picked up on this initiative. Unfortunately the green boxes are only for paper, cans, and glass. Considering the large amount of household waste which consists of recyclable plastics, Walsall now need to extend the recycling-box scheme to include these plastics. As for the bins, environmental health considerations demand a weekly collection, so it would be the “smaller bin” option for me, even if it didn’t have the edge on capacity which it has.
When your paper first published the story i wrote to Bruce George MP.To express my concerns that although i recycle everything my bin for a family of 4 is still full.
No more than 6 weeks ago the letter from walsall council , which i add i threw away, mores the pity stated No Such Plans FOr fortnightly collection was going to take place.
How are we suppose to belive the council now,Walsall council do not kerb collect cardboard, which i add is the biggest bin filler.
Sort your act of recyling other means first before penalising the council tax payer, or you will find your council will be cleaning up fly tipping next, at another council tax increase for YES, the council tax payer.
Digusted walsall resident
What about the cost of replacing all the bins to the larger ones ?
Then they will still be taking the same amount of rubbish away over a fortnightly period, i would imagine this would take longer amount of time as the will have to empy the refuse wagon more often on each round unless they intend on getting larger wagons …. then there will be the smell of the rubbish sitting there for two weeks !!!
How will this save money or help anyone ?
It’s bad enough cleaning up after the recycling wagon has been around…they leave more on the roads than they take away
What are these people on.
This is disgusting why cant they just leave it and carry on with the weekly collection. I recycle and i recycle plastics elsewhere as the council wont collect them, but my bin is always brimming over come monday morning, dont they realise people with large familys need there weekly collections tp carry on. Walsall council continues to dissapoint
Here in astronomical-council-tax Cornwall we don’t have bins at all. Our rubbish goes in black bags (paid for ourselves)collected weekly. There is no green collection - garden waste we have to take to the tip ourselves or put it in teeny orange bags we also have to buy ourselves (40p each) collected fortnightly along with the recyclables. At least you have bins -both brown and green - and you get them collected free. But we’ve realised that not having a huge wheelie bin and having a recycling box means we have reduced our waste by more than half - it works. You just have to persuade lazy people to do it.
We have been re-cycling for a few years and have just started to re-cycle plastic pop bottles and detergent bottles - the difference in waste is amazing - it means we don’t have to have the bin emptied every week. There are times when we have been on holiday in the past and it hasn’t been emptied every week with no problem with smells etc - people complained about the ‘green’ bins when they were introduced and now loads of people use them - we fill one and more each fortnight with no problem with collection. I would prefer the council to collect all recyclable rubbish including plastic but until that happens I will take up the road to the recycle bins myself!!
It’s Ok saying if you recycle more then you’ll only need your bins emptying every fortnight but what if you have a baby….. the nappies would really smell. What about things like cat litter or other non recyclable products.A lrge family will generate more rubbish that a single or a couple.If your disabled you can’t get to the tip or recycling centre and Walall Council will not take plastic bottles or cardboard in the recycle boxes they even refuse to take yellow pages !
I fill my recycle box full to over flowing with the items that they will take but if you try to put cereal boxes in the recycle box they just put it in the dust bin or leave it in the box ,but my bin is still full .We are all not fortunate enough to be able to go to a recycling centre Walsall Council should be more like Stafford they take all sorts of recyclable products including plastic bottle and cardboard from packaging .
Why should be suffer when they do not want to help the people who pay their wages !
This is a cause and symptom issue. What the government fail to understand is that if they want to really deal with rubbish and landfill waste - they need to look at what is causing the rubbish and reduce it. How much rubbish in our bins is packaging? You can’t go forcing councils to collect less rubbish! I for one can’t see why Walsall Council can’t keep the status quo and i’d like to push for more kerbside recycling like plastics and cardboard. In the meantime the government should get to grips with the real issue!
Theoretically we should be able to hit these people where it really hurts - in the ballot box - but like any issue actually relevant to daily life our”representatives’just all give out the same old homogenized mush and follow the line of least resistance,then push themselves ever deeper into the Council Tax trough.
walsall council may think that fortnightly refuse collection is a great idea but will they employ more people to clean the rubbish that people start to dump up side roads,and does this new plan mean there will be no rise in council tax in 2008.(i do not think so)
Reduced Collection = Reduced Council Tax? NEVER! We have had inflation busting Council Tax rises for as long as I can remember - and for what? We only ever get reduced services and facilities. As stated by others previously, a fourtnightly collection is a cost-saving exercise more than a recycling initiative - if Walsall were so keen, why don’t they collect plastics and cardboard - plastic being the worst offending rubbish and cardboard being the biggest in volume.
Here’s a question - which Council mathematition worked out that x3 black bags at Christmas (the maximum they would take away in addition to the bin - after a holiday for the stressed and over-worked bin-men (not)) is equal to a full wheelie-bin? ’cause it’s not - by a long way. I put out x7 semi-filled black-bags - and they took the x3 smallest. If I had over-loaded the bags and they had split when the really pro-active bin-men (not) - who would have to clear up the mess???