THE controversial saga of bins in Rossendale has been raised again after council chiefs revealed they were looking at doing a U-turn and returning to a weekly collection for general waste.
Currently, Rossendale operates a fortnightly collection service, where non-recylable waste is collected one week, followed by recycling bins, boxes and bags the next.
The issue came up at last week’s full council meeting when Liberal Democrat councillor Tim Nuttall asked when the Valley would revert to a weekly bin collection.
It was revealed that the current arrangement costs around £65,000 to administer whereas a return to a weekly collection would cost more than £100,000 – an increase not included in the budget.
Later in the meeting, Councillor Peter Steen, Cabinet portfolio holder for the environment, said: ‘We hope to be able to reintroduce the weekly bin collection, but we are limited by the county council and by the government as to how we collect our waste.
‘The guidelines as to how we dispose of it, including the leaflets and manifestos, seem to be rather vague documents.’
Following this, Labour group leader Councillor Alyson Barnes tried to clarify matters, asking if the Tory-led council’s policy on bin collection had changed.
Council leader Tony Swain said: ‘Our policy is not changing, but this is something we would like to do in the future.’
The issue of bin collection has long been controversial in Rossendale.
In the past, many residents have accused the council of being ‘heavy-handed’ over the way it informed them about bin collection changes.
There were lots of complaints after the authority announced last year that it would no longer collect side-waste and all bins had to have their lids fully closed if they were to be emptied – with the threat of a fine for those failing to comply.
It led to calls for the reintroduction of weekly collections, which at the time was ruled out by council bosses who said the changes had resulted in a big increase in the borough’s recycling rate.
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kevin taylor (07/07/2008 at 11:00)
salfordrat (23/12/2009 at 14:52)
The person on the phone accused me of not re-cycling properly. The fact is an entire wheelie bin is rarely needed for a family of three. My bottle bin is never even a third full after two weeks. In salford you are given a plastic box approximately two feet long, one across and one deep for a family to re-cycle bottles and cans. My family and friends there find this more than adequate.
The person on the phone then asked me if I am using my paper re-cycling bag. I told her that of course I am, but as I dont eat paper there isnt a great deal of it to be re-cycled. Perhaps a newspaper or two and the occasional pizza box, along with some junk mail like the christmas card from our local MP showing a picture of Big Ben. So, it seems the council have taken care of every waste eventuality except the one which is most important. I think the idea is that money is saved by two weekly collections, and money is made by fining people who cannot cram two weeks worth of domestic waste into one wheelie bin. I challenge any councillor to come and try it. How many bins does Tony Swain have?