Weekly bin rounds stay as councils bid for cash
Weekly bin collections are to be protected in parts of the West Midlands as councils bid for millions of pounds of Government cash to maintain the number of rounds. Fortnightly rounds will stay in South Staffordshire.
Weekly bin collections are to be protected in parts of the West Midlands as councils bid for millions of pounds of Government cash to maintain the number of rounds. Fortnightly rounds will stay in South Staffordshire.
The Government's £250 million cash incentive scheme has been launched to encourage councils to keep or bring back weekly bin collections.
Councils in Wolverhampton, Sandwell and Dudley, which have weekly rounds, have already signalled their interest in applying for funding.
Meanwhile, Walsall Council which has weekly collections and Lichfield District Council, which collects household waste on a fortnightly basis, are yet to make a decision on whether to apply while South Staffordshire Council said it was "not in their best interest" to apply.
Communities Secretary Eric Pickles launched the scheme in a bid to reverse the move towards fortnightly rubbish collections.
More than half of councils in England now have systems in place in which ref-use is collected only once a fortnight, although many pick up recycling or food waste once a week. But Mr Pickles has said he believes that weekly collections are a "basic right".
Local authorities will be able to apply for money to support weekly collections, as well as for schemes which reward residents with vouchers for recycling rubbish.
Funding will also be available for facilities with technology that sorts waste after it has been picked up, so that families do not have to sort their rubbish into as many as nine bins. Dudley Council leader, Les Jones, said: "We have always had weekly bin collections and we have every intention of continuing to do so."
Sandwell Council's neighbourhoods boss, Councillor Derek Rowley said the authority is "determined to have the best possible bin collection service for residents".
"Any cash that we can get from the Government to help achieve that can only be good for both the council and residents," he added.
But Jackie Smith, director of environmental services at South Staffordshire, said: "We are happy continuing as things are."
