In a new report on the health risks of alternate week collections, district councils said problems such as maggots and odour could be prevented by taking simple measures. None of the councils had received repeat complaints after offering residents this advice.
Concerns
The investigation into the health risks of fortnightly collections by Nottinghamshire council's environment select committee began in July after councillors raised concerns. The district councils which reported back – Ashfield, Bassetlaw, Broxtowe, Mansfield and Rushcliffe – agreed there were no health risks.
Nottinghamshire districts are all currently rolling out twin recycling bins collected fortnightly in alternation with refuse collections. About 50,000 households in the county now have two bins.
Nottinghamshire council director of environment Peter Webster said: “twin bins and bi-weekly collections are fully supported by the county council and current experience and projections indicate that they will achieve the necessary statutory recycling targets.”
Complaints
All of the councils had received some phone complaints about the new collections, but none had more than three written complaints. Rushcliffe borough council said it had issued 14,900 bins and received 26 complaints about odour, 10 about maggots and three concerned about health hazards. But Mr Webster said of this case: “All maggot complaints have been found to be poor housekeeping on the residents' part, i.e. food waste not wrapped, lid open or both.”
He added: “Smell complaints are usually the resident's reaction to not wanting an alternate weekly collection and there are no repeat complaints once the policy and reasons have been explained to them.” Health hazard complaints were unfounded as long as good housekeeping practices were followed, he said.
Bassetlaw district council also pointed out to residents that “it may be that the flies did not enter the wheeled bin to lay their eggs, it was more likely that the files laid their eggs whilst in the kitchen bin and they hatched after being transferred to the refuse bin”.
Advice
Advice offered to residents was based on the experiences of other councils nationwide also operating fortnightly collections. Suggestions included:
- Wrap perishable items such as food
- Use washable cotton nappies, rather than disposable nappies
- Store bins out of direct sunlight
- Double wrap meat and fish waste
- Tie all bags securely
- Line the base of the bin with a sheet of newspaper
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