Forum topic: Fortnightly bin collections on the agenda

At its meeting on 13th February Enfield's Cabinet will be discussing proposed changes to waste collection services for households with "wheelie bins". If the Cabinet approves the recommended option, Enfield will  join the growing list of UK local authorities (82 per cent of all LAs) that no longer collect refuse every week.

The report drawn up for the meeting recommends changing collection of refuse and of dry recycling to once a fortnight, setting up a weekly collection of kitchen waste and charging for collection of garden waste.  This option was the least popular among respondents to the consultation which ran from October to the start of this year, but is the one that will save the most money.

The main features of the recommendations are:

• Refuse (black-top bin) collections to be provided once a fortnight, retaining the current black-top bin (larger bins would be available in some specific cases, eg households with two children using nappies)
• Dry recycling (blue-top bin) collections to be provided once a fortnight in alternate weeks to the black-top bin collections. Properties with small bins would be able to swap them for large bins.
• A commitment by the council to collect all dry recycling produced by a household - if the bin is full, items for recycling could be put out on the pavement in suitable containers
• A separate weekly food waste collection. For the first year of the scheme households would be issued with free bin liners.
• A £65 per annum charge per garden waste bin (opt-in).
• Weekly food waste collection an charging for garden waste collection would start in November 2019, fortnightly refuse and dry recycling collections would begin in spring 2020.
• Investment in measures to reduce flytipping and littering: recruitment of two additional Recycling Officers and two additional Enforcement Officers, plus an additional £0.5 million a year spent on street cleaning.

The recommendation to the Cabinet is supported by a detailed analysis of the responses to the public consultation held between October 2018 and early January this year.  Unsurprisingly, Option 7 was the least popular, with 79 per cent of respondents "strongly disagreeing", while the most popular was retaining the current collection arrangements (46 per cent strongly agreed).  Second most popular was Option 2 (ruled out in any case because not in conformity with policies announced by both the Mayor of London and the government that there should be weekly collections of kitchen waste).

However, the original consultation made it clear that popularity with residents would not be the most important factor when deciding:

"The criteria for the options appraisal will be financial savings, conformity with the Mayor’s Environment Strategy, and the responses to the consultation. To that end, the Council is facing significant budget pressures and the primary driver will be the amount of financial savings projected. All options will be considered in light of the consultation responses and all relevant factors will be considered before a decision is reached."

The need for financial savings arises not just because of swingeing cuts in government support to local authorities since 2010, but also because the government is not renewing a grant of £2.46 million that it gave to Enfield to retain weekly collections for waste and recycling.

The new arrangements will apply only to the approximately 87,500 properties that use wheelie bins, not to the 2,500 properties that use bags or the 40,000 flats where communal facilities are provided.