Eunomia accused of peddling case for bin cuts

Local Government minister Bob Neill has condemned a report published yesterday by members of his own party which advocates the introduction of fortnightly bin collections as being “not worth the recycled paper it is written on”.

The study was carried out by consultancy Eunomia on behalf of the Conservative Environment Network (CEN), which was set up earlier this year by former shadow environment secretary Peter Ainsworth to champion green issues (see letsrecycle.com story).

One of the report's key findings is that restricting residual waste collections and capacity can help councils to cut costs while increasing recycling. As a result, it says that government rhetoric suggesting that fortnightly refuse collections should not be allowed is “unhelpful, misguided and contradicts the coalition government's commitment to localism”.

And, writing in the foreword of the document, CEN director Paul Foote goes so far as to suggest that support by the Department for communities and local government for weekly collections amounted to “statist bullying”.

Responding to this, Mr Neill attacked Eunomia as “over-zealous bin bullies” who he said “wanted to make life even harder for struggling families”.

He said: “This report is not worth the recycled paper it's written on. Bin consultants Eunomia have raked in almost £3 million of taxpayers' money under Labour, peddling the case for bin taxes and bin cuts. They are over-zealous bin bullies who want to make life even harder for struggling families.

“The new Government rejects Eunomia's and Labour's failed bin policies. We are abolishing Labour's bin taxes, we will stop the march of the bin police, and we will work with councils to increase the frequency and quality of household rubbish and recycling collections. Fortnightly bin collections are a naked cut to frontline services and lead to problems with vermin, bin smells and fly-tipping.”

The Conservative Party has been a firm advocate of weekly waste collections since 2008 (see letsrecycle.com story)with communities secretary Eric Pickles leading the charge.

The issue is understood to have been the cause of ongoing friction between the department of communities and local government and the department responsible for waste, Defra.