Forum topic: Green bin collections likely to go fortnightly

Following the public consultation on the future of "green bin" collections, Enfield Council's Cabinet will be presented with a paper recommending that collection of food and garden waste be reduced from once a week to once a fortnight.

A brief item about the proposed changes was posted on the council website yesterday.  It states that 87 per cent of respondents to the survey preferred a free fortnightly collection rather than an optional paid for weekly green bin collection (£60 a year).

According to Councillor David Anderson, Cabinet Member for Environment, because of severe cutbacks in central governmente funding for Enfield, the Council needs to make savings wherever possible.  Either of the options would save at least £400,000 a year.  A third option that was considered was to collect garden waste only during certain months, when demand was highest, but the savings that this would generate would be "a fraction" of this amount.

According to Councillor Anderson, fortnightly green bin collection is "already standard" in many London boroughs and four Conservative-run boroughs even charge for fortnightly collections.

If agreed by Cabinet, the changes will be introduced in March/April 2017.  The paper setting out the survey results and the rationale behind the proposals has not yet been published on the Council website, but should become available at least a week before the meeting at which it will be discussed.  The next two Cabinet meetings are scheduled for 19th October and 16th November.

Fortnightly collection of garden waste will create significant problems for many Enfield households, especially those with large gardens.  At certain times of year gardeners already find it difficult to fit all their waste in the bin when it is being taken away every week.

The bare statement that 87 per cent of respondents were against paid-for weekly collections is not really sufficient grounds for a decision to choose the fortnightly option.  A factor that must be taken into account is how many of the respondents actually generate garden waste, eg people living in flats with no garden or where there is no green bin collection anyway.

An alternative that was not offered in the consultation would have been to make the savings by collecting the black "refuse" bin once a fortnight. This would encourage people to sort their waste more carefully and not put recyclables in the black bin.

Presumably the Cabinet paper will provide a more detailed view of the survey results, the profiles of the respondents and the arguments for the decision that has been recommended.