Relief call on rubbish

Cannock residents should get some relief from rubbish piling up over the festive season by reintroducing a weekly bins service, it was claimed today.

Labour councillor Mike Holder wants the borough's fortnightly rubbish collections to be dropped in favour of a weekly service in Cannock over the Christmas holidays.

Councillor Holder says last year the Conservative/Liberal Democrat-controlled council suspended the collection of brown bins - which are for garden waste - and instead doubled up on the collections of green bins, for domestic waste.

But this year there has been no mention of any festive alterations to the present scheme.

Councillor Holder said: "The purpose of my motion is two-fold. Firstly, I want the council to reintroduce the weekly collection of green bins over the festive period and, secondly, I want the council to have the chance to debate the issue. If it cannot be reinstated for that short time, I want the councillors to explain why not."

He added: "I'm not saying people should stop recycling. I just think it makes more sense to collect domestic waste weekly rather than having crews driving round the town picking up brown bins with nothing in them when the green bins will be overflowing."

He is going to submit the motion at a meeting of the full council this afternoon.

Councillor Holder added: "Not many people collect garden waste over Christmas but a lot of families struggle with the amount of domestic waste created. It would just make more sense if there were weekly green bin collections."

Alternate collections of general household waste and recyclable waste were brought in across the district in the summer.

By Kate Hughes