The Sun this morning has the following quote from a Local Government Association about Government plans to offer an incentive to councils to maintain, or restore, weekly bin collections. The LGA spokesman says: "Any council that did take up this offer will have to make sure that all their costs are covered going forward. "Our […]
Bad news for rats. The Daily Telegraph reports pretty emphatically (with a more hesitant follow up in The Guardian this morning) that the Government are going to give an incentive for councils to provide weekly bin collections. At present the financial motive is to switch to fortnightly collections. This is not just because it is […]
The Sunday Telegraph reports that "draconian" fines on householders for breaking rules on rubbish and recycling are to be prohibited. It says: Councils will no longer be able to fine people for failing to close a bin lid; leaving bin bags next to a bin; putting a bin out on the wrong day; failing to […]
The Daily Mail splashes this morning on a Conservative council (a Conservative council) rationing families to 80 bags of rubbish a year. Broxbourne are already doing this and another Conservative council – Wokingham – is planning to follow. Those that generate more rubbish than their quota have to buy extra bags (which will be "deterred") […]
The Sunday Telegraph report that the number of households getting a weekly bin collection has declined by half a million since the election. The Government has urged councils to keep weekly collection. It has sought to reverse pressure for the weekly collection to be abandoned over recycling guidelines. The difficulty is that fortnightly collections are […]
The Daily Mail has a report on the refuse collection service in Birmingham. Essentailly there is a scam where the workforce have a perverse incentive not to get the rubbish collecting during the basic hours – thus they get paid to do on overtime. Cllr Martin Mullaney says: 'What's going on is disgraceful. What we are […]
The political row over the failure of some councils to collect the rubbish is escalating. Cllr Pete Edwards, the Labour leader of Exeter City Council has said that the mounting rubbish piled up in the alleyways and roadsides of his city is "not a major problem." A third of the seats in Exeter are up […]
The combination of snow, extra rubbish to throw away over Christmas and extra holidays over the festive season have caused a "rubbish crisis" in some areas according to the Daily Mail. The problem is where councils are only holding fortnightly bin collections at the best of times. Areas named by the council as being in serious […]
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 […]
Cllr Paul Greenall, Cabinet Member of West Lancashire Borough Council responsible for Refuse Collection and Recycling, defends fortnightly bin collections Both in opposition and Government, some senior Conservatives have criticised the so-called ‘fortnightly collection’ of household rubbish. However, these criticisms miss the positive benefits this scheme can bring and its obvious association with the ‘Big Society’. […]
John Denham as Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, used public money to sponsor "Waste Collection Achievement Awards" – which only went to councils adopting fortnightly collections. The awards were to be given out at a black tie champagne reception and dinner at the London Hilton. Councils also used taxpayers' money to pay […]
By Jonathan Isaby Today's Daily Mail splashes on a story that relates to an unnerving intrusion into our lives licensed by the last Labour Government: "Councils are secretly rifling through thousands of dustbins to find out about families' race and wealth. Waste audits allow officials and private contractors to check supermarket labels, types of unwanted […]
Communities Secretary Eric Pickles has instructed the town hall quango, the Audit Commission, to stop forcing and cajoling councils into scrapping weekly bin collections and imposing draconian bin policies. New evidence has emerged how the cuts to the frequency of collections were not a ‘local decision’ by councils at all, but effectively imposed by Labour Ministers […]
Cllr Liam Maxwell of Windsor and Maidenhead Council of how recycling rates have risen more than a third After two successful pilot scheme that saw 75% of residents participate, Windsor and Maidenhead today launched our groundbreaking 'pay the public to recycle' scheme across all 66,000 homes in the borough. Eric Pickles, Caroline Spelman and Adam […]
Yesterday I mentioned that Labour now run 17 of the 32 London boroughs – but I'm afraid it's really 18 as they have a minority administration in Merton. They have 28 councillors to the 27 for the Conservatives. The Merton Park Independents put Labour into power. Labour gained one of the seats from the Conservatives – […]