Plans for monthly bin collections strongly opposed

Liam Randall, local democracy reporter

Plans to introduce monthly black bin collections have been strongly opposed by backbench politicians after a backlash from residents.

Flintshire Council recently outlined proposals to only pick up general waste from households once every four weeks.

The local authority is currently facing the threat of fines of more than £1m after missing the Welsh Government target of recycling 64 per cent of the rubbish it collects for the last four financial years.

With the goal increasing to 70 per cent this year, senior officials have warned change is necessary to avoid further financial penalties.

Anger

However, residents have expressed anger at the plans, with a petition calling for them to be scrapped attracting nearly 1,800 signatures.

Members of the council’s environment and economy scrutiny committee also sent a clear message at a meeting held today (Tuesday, 16 July) that they would not support the proposals.

It followed concerns being raised that it will lead to odour issues and increased fly-tipping in the area.

Gwernaffield and Gwernymynydd councillor David Coggins was among those who opposed the move, describing it as “unfair”.

The Liberal Democrat politician said: “Because we have fallen so far behind, we’re now pushing the burden onto the residents and making them pay the cost.

“It’s not so much that they’ll be paying the cost in fiscal terms, although their council tax will probably be going up.

“Having a stinking, disgusting bin outside the house for an entire month is going to be a fairly hefty price to pay.

“This is fundamentally the wrong way of doing it because residents will feel as though it’s a punishment for our failure in not getting the recycling rates up. I think it’s most unfair.”

Recycled

A report presented to the committee shows 13,410 tonnes (58 per cent) of rubbish put in black bins by Flintshire residents in 2022/23 could have been recycled, around half of which was food waste.

Katie Wilby, the council’s chief officer for streetscene and transportation, said monthly collections would boost recycling rates, which currently stand at just under 63 per cent, by an estimated 5.9 per cent.

As well as taking the authority closer to the government recycling target, she said it would also deliver financial savings of up to £800,000 per year.

Hawarden Mancot councillor Sam Swash, from the Flintshire People’s Voice group, said he believed the proposals were more about saving money than meeting recycling targets.

He said: “I’m not convinced it really is about recycling rates and the cabinet member did reference that the cut was made because it was part of the budget progress.

“According to the documents presented, it shows that adopting this change will not meet the target for 70 per cent.

“There isn’t any detail on what is actually going to drive the behavioural change to get people to put less food waste into their back bins.

“Why would we go ahead with this proposal? It’s clear that the people of Flintshire do not support reduced collections.”

Collections

Officers said by restricting the capacity of people’s bins through monthly collections, it would lead them to put less food waste in the containers.

A modelling exercise also showed it was the most effective of the three options considered by the council.

But Cllr Glyn Banks (Ind) said: “It’s proven to be very, very unpopular with the residents. We’re here to fight against this for the residents of Flintshire because a petition has been set up against this.

“What a lot of people see when they think of the council is the kerbside collections because you’re the public facing service that everybody relies on every week.

“With the service going to four-weekly, how will that (the recycling performance) improve?”

Councillors unanimously opposed the reduction in the frequency of collections at the end of the debate.

The proposals will be presented to members of the council’s ruling Labour cabinet for a final decision in the near future.