Council expected to drop plans for four-weekly black bin collections

A local authority’s plans to collect residents’ black bins only once every four weeks are likely to be shelved.

Bristol Council had launched a six-week consultation which included the option of switching to monthly bin collections in order to save more than £2 million a year and boost recycling rates.

Ahead of a meeting of full council, the ruling Green Party administration announced it would not be supporting the move.

Both the Labour Party and Conservatives had proposed motions to calling on the council to rule out switching to four-weekly bin collections.

While more 12,000 people have signed a petition organised by the Labour Party opposing the changes.

Any decision to change the frequency of waste collections is responsibility of the cross-party environment and sustainability committee, which is chaired by Green Party councillor Martin Fodor.

“The four-weekly option was put in the consultation as an outlier for modelling purposes and I made clear it was always unlikely to go ahead,” Mr Fodor said.

“And so based on what we’ve heard and the strength of feeling that this has generated across the city, the Greens will not be supporting any proposals put forward to move to four-weekly collections at this time.

“The full results of the consultation will be presented to a cross-party group to decide on any changes to our waste and recycling services.

“I would like to thank everyone who made the time to make their voice heard. The Greens aim to be as collaborative and transparent in our decision making as possible.

“While other parties consult on pre-made decisions, the views of Bristol will always be taken into account under this administration.”

The city’s recycling rate is at around 45% and the Green Party has previously pledged to increase it.

In 2024, the recycling collected earned the city council £4.5 million in revenue, while disposing of it would have cost the city £8.3 million to process.

Councillor James Crawford, who also sits on the environment and sustainability committee, said: “There are many changes that we need to make as a city to improve our recycling rate.

“Larger recycling containers, better information on recycling, more consistent facilities and services in blocks and shared dwellings, and collection of soft plastic recycling are all things we can do.

“I look forward to seeing the full results of the consultation and working cross-party on what measures we can take to improve recycling for Bristol.”