Forum topic: Less frequent wheelie bin collections proposed

Enfield Council is consulting residents about proposals to save money by collecting waste less often.

The consultation, which runs until 6th January, relates to proposals which would only affect households with "wheelie bins" - households with shared bins or which do not use wheeled bins are not affected.

There are seven options, shown below with the estimated savings to the council and the estimated effect on the proportion of waste which is recycled.

Cost-saving measures are needed because of year-on-year cuts to the funding which central government provides to local authorities.  Since 2010 Enfield Council has made savings of £178 million in order to live with these cuts. It needs to make a further saving of £18 million in 2019/2020 in order to balance its budget.

There is a short version of the reasoning behind the proposed options in the consultations section of the council website.  A much more detailed description is also available - the paper drawn up for consideration by the cabinet member for environment.  An interesting fact quoted in the paper is that the 391 local authorities across the UK use no fewer than 58 different waste and recycling collection configurations.  The most commonly used of the Enfield options is option 7, used by 56 local authorities.

The online questionnaire gives respondents an opportunity to specify why a particular configuration would be problematical for their household.

In considering the options, the council states that the "primary driver" will be the amount of savings generated.  However, in the case of the option that provides the biggest savings - option 7 - the council says it would reinvest half a million pounds in improved street cleaning and flytip removal.

In the case of elderly or disabled people who would have difficulty moving a bin containing two weeks' worth of waste, the council points out that there are already arrangements in place for "assisted collections".