Environmental charity, Keep Britain Tidy, has hit out at the myths ‘explained’ in the government’s guidance on weekly waste collections in LG news:
The ‘bin bible’ was published last week by communities secretary, Eric Pickles, in an attempt to encourage councils to deliver weekly rubbish collections.
Keep Britain Tidy has said while it does not disagree with every myth ‘busted’ by the guide, it claimed the evidence within it is ‘weak’ with many case studies ‘cherry picked’ from those authorities receiving a share of the £250m weekly bin collection funding pot
Tim Burns, evidence and policy manager at Keep Britain Tidy, hasexplored some of the myths in the bin policy. He stressed it should be left to local authorities to decide if they wish to employ fortnightly waste collections and the DCLG should not be ‘interfering’ with local decision making on issues such as waste collection.
He also said there was evidence suggesting fortnightly waste collections could vastly increase recycling rates, while reducing costs and improving local services.
He said: ‘The £250m weekly collection support scheme did not damage recycling rates or the environment, largely because local authorities with existing fortnightly waste collections ignored the scheme.’
He added only one local authority used the funding to reinstate weekly collections, with most choosing to improve recycling and separate food collection schemes instead.