Pickles sets ball rolling in support of weekly collections

Fortnightly collections are unpopular and unhygienic. It's the traditional weekly bin round that people want

 
Eric Pickles, secretary of state for communities and local government

The comments come three years after the Commission – the local authority spending watchdog – issued a ‘Waste Management Quick Guide' to councils across the country, which supposedly states “alternate weekly collections makes it easier to recycle”.

Mr Pickles believes that the document triggered the move to “unpopular” fortnightly collections and was designed “purely as a cost cutting measure”. And, he claimed that “councils have been under the threat of being marked down in their inspection reports if they failed to comply with this guidance”.

Mr Pickles is today writing to the Audit Commission requiring them to repeal this guidance, which he says will free councils to return to weekly bin collections. If the Audit Commission refuses, the Secretary of State has a legal power to ‘direct' them.

The move follows a pre-election pledge by the Conservatives to help councils return to weekly waste collections which, originally, the party had claimed central government would help fund. However, Defra has since said that it would not force councils to go down this route – to the relief of many (see letsrecycle.com story).

Mr Pickles said: “Fortnightly collections are unpopular and unhygienic. It's the traditional weekly bin round that people want. Diktats imposed from the centre forced councils to listen to bureaucrats over residents.

“The new Government will work with councils to freeze council tax and help them improve the frequency of rubbish and recycling collections. Let's use incentives and rewards to increase recycling, rather than cuts, fines and taxes. Families now pay a fortune in council tax – it's time they got a better deal.”

A spokeswoman for the Audit Commission today told letsrecycle.com: “The Audit Commission has not as yet received a letter and so, as I am sure you will understand, can't comment upon it.”

Bug-bear

The issue of fortnightly waste collections has become a particular bug-bear for the Conservatives, with Mr Pickles routinely criticising the schemes.

In the lead-up to the general election, the Conservative Party strongly outlined its goal for introducing weekly waste collections and hit out at Labour and Liberal Democrats for “imposing” fortnightly collections and “pushing through monthly bin collections” (see letsrecycle.com story).

This builds on a long-running push for weekly waste collections, with the Conservative Party announcing in its annual conference in 2008 that it wanted to see them returned (see letsrecycle.com story).

In a parliamentary question from March 29, Steven Bundred of the Audit Commission responded to a question from the Conservatives, who were then in opposition, about how many times the watchdog had recommended to councils that they should introduce AWC.

In his response, Mr Bundred said: “Without reviewing over 2,000 documents, which would only be possible at disproportionate cost, the Audit Commission is aware of only two audit, inspection or assessment reports since 2004 which recommend that a local authority considers alternate weekly collections of household rubbish.”

The councils in question being West Devon borough council and Cannock Chase district council.

WRAP

Before the election, the Conservatives also attacked the Defra-funded Waste Resources & Action Programme (WRAP) for appearing to support fortnightly rubbish collections.

As evidence, the party cited WRAP research Landfill Bans published in March 2010, which stated that the volume of food waste collected at the kerbside “will be highest where residual waste is collected no more frequently than fortnightly in wheeled bins”. However, the research in question advocated weekly food waste collections and WRAP has always insisted it is impartial.