Wolverhampton bins to be collected once every TWO WEEKS in shake-up
Bin collections will be cut to fortnightly and a new superdump will be given the green light when council bosses sign off on plans to revamp Wolverhampton's waste collection services.
The cash-strapped authority is set to agree a range of cost cutting measures aimed at saving £2.4 million a year as part of wider plans to make £54.6m of savings by 2019-20.
They include creating a new superdump on land off Hickman Avenue in East Park, in a move that will see the closure of the city's two tips at Anchor Lane and Shaw Road.
Bins will be emptied fortnightly instead of weekly, controversial slop buckets will be scrapped, while a charge of £35 a year will be levied on residents taking up a new 42-week garden waste collection service.
And the authority says it plans to publish details later this year of a new scheme enabling households to take larger 240 or 360 litre bins for household waste.
Councillor Steve Evans, Wolverhampton council's environment boss, said: "People understand that we have to save money due to Government cuts and can see that we are trying to be sensible in our approach and do it in a way that causes minimum disruption."
A report to the authority's cabinet said the annual £11.5m cost of household waste and recycling services was no longer affordable in the wake of continued Government funding cuts.
Council bosses are set to authorise the changes at a meeting on Wednesday.
It follows a consultation that saw thousands of people have their say on the future of waste management in the city.
A total of 47 per cent of 13,925 respondents supported the new superdump, while 39 per cent were against it and 14 per cent undecided.
Meanwhile 73 per cent of 2,260 people were in favour of getting rid of slop buckets, and 55 per cent of 2,269 respondents backed moving domestic waste collections to fortnightly 'in order to balance the books'.
However, 65 per cent of 6,567 people who took the consultation said they would not be willing to pay £35 to have their garden rubbish collected.
Mr Evans said the council did not think 'maintaining the status quo' over garden waste collections was fair. "At the moment all taxpayers subsidise this non-statutory service, but only 33 per cent of households use it," he said.
"We are therefore looking to introduce a charge of £35 per year for people who want their garden waste collected and this would be an extended service to what they get now covering 42 weeks of the year.
"Concessionary rates would apply for our vulnerable residents who receive benefits."
