Sheffield proposes shared bins for residents

According to the council, the shared bin scheme would be rolled out on specific streets where households have multiple occupants, such as student areas.

The scheme has already been piloted on Sharrowvale Road in 2014, which saw large shared containers replace individual bins for 20 households on the street.

Shared bins are just one of a number of proposals being floated in order to make the savings, with a public consultation launched on the council website last week (March 11) to gauge residents’ views.

At present, Sheffield council provides blue bins and boxes to store paper, card, glass, cans and plastic bottles for recycling, green bins for garden waste and black bins for general waste.

Other proposals include residents wheeling their black bins to the roadside, including in rural areas, while any extra paper and card left next to blue recycling containers will not be collected.

There could also be a £20 replacement charge launched for replacement black bins, green garden waste and blue recycling containers after a first replacement. Meanwhile, missed collections would be dealt with within two working days rather than one.

Cuts

Councillor Julie Dore, leader of Sheffield City Council, said the savings had to be made in light of continued cuts in funding from central government.

She said: “We as an authority have just agreed spending cuts of a huge £63m in the coming financial year, due in no small part to the amount of funding we receive in our main Government grant being slashed by 50% since 2010.

“Part of our budget savings involve coming up with proposals for our waste service that increase efficiency where possible, while still providing a good service for everyone in the city.

She added: “We welcome people’s views and will act upon them so that we do what is best for Sheffield in terms of waste management and recycling. I would urge as many people as possible to get involved with this consultation, so that when we make our final decisions we have an accurate a picture as possible of the views of communities across our city.”

The consultation is due to close April 1 2015, after which time councillors will meet to discuss the data and review its waste and recycling strategy.