A survey in the Sunday Telegraph suggests that more councils are introducing fortnightly bin collections. Official figures show that 225 out of 443 councils have given up weekly bin collections. The Sunday Telegraph estimate that the number has grown since tthe figures were compiled and is now around 300.
Even since the Communities Secretary Eric Pickles and Environment Secretary Caroline Spelman scrapped Labour guidance encouraging fortnightly bin collection the trend has continued – with another 19 councils scrapping weekly bin collections.
It says:
From last week, residents in East Renfrewshire will have their plastics, food and drinks packaging collected once a month.
And last month Tory-run Wiltshire council announced it would be moving from weekly to fortnightly collections.
Other councils including Dover, West Oxfordshire, Scottish Borders and Brent have made similar announcements since June.
Edinburgh, Newcastle and Cardiff city councils have all said they are "considering" moves to fortnightly collections.
On the other hand other councils have moved in the other direction and reinstated weekly collections after outrage from residents about the smell and multiplying rat population. The Campaign for Weekly Waste has a list.
To add insult to injury those councils celebrating the savings of fortnightly bin collections send their staff off to a £150 awards dinner in Liverpool last week hosted by the Local Authority Recycling Committee.