Salford approves three weekly collections trials

The pilot, which will see residual waste collected once every three weeks, will be rolled out across 10 wards in the city from July 2016.

If successful, the council plans to introduce the service change to all households from August 2017 – making it the third Greater Manchester district to do so behind Bury and Rochdale.

The council outlined its plan to reduce the frequency of fortnightly refuse collections in a report published last week. Under the changes, collections of dry recyclables and mixed food waste will remain unchanged.

According to the document, the drive for the change has been mounting financial pressure from central government – with the council’s waste costs expected to rise to £19.7 million by 2017/18 (see letsrecycle.com story).

Trials

But commenting on the decision to green light the trials, councillor Gena Merrett, executive lead member for housing and environment, said it was also a chance to boost Salford’s recycling rate– which has plateaued at 42%.

She said: “If we don’t increase recycling further and stop sending so much waste to landfill, we could be looking at spending up to £3.5 million more on waste in the next few years. That’s an awful lot of money to spend on throwing rubbish into a hole in the ground.

“If we can boost recycling we could save at least £1 million per year. That’s money we can spend on services for local people. It’s estimated that 35% of the waste that goes into black bins could be recycled, so there a lot of potential.”

The move has been met with criticism from some Salford residents, who on Tuesday set up an online petition to stop the 240 litre bins being collected every three weeks. The petition has so far amassed 2,665 signatures.

Cllr Merrett added: “I do understand people’s concerns about this but weekly food collections will not be changed. And if everyone in the city recycled just 22 extra plastic bottles, 17 extra glass jars and 30 more cans a year, it would push recycling rates in the city up by five percent and be so much better for the environment.”