Pickles Announces Fund To Give Councils Weekly Collections Choice

30 September 2011

Local Government Secretary, Eric Pickles, has unveiled a £250m fund, giving councils the opportunity to return to weekly collections

Eric Pickles, Local Government Secretary

Admitting he cannot force local authorities to go back to weekly collections, Pickles told the Daily Mail newpaper: "I've had council leaders sitting at this very table who claim their public like a fortnightly collection and are very supportive."

As a part of the localism agenda many believe it is down to the individual local authority to determine what is best for the area, whether that be weekly or fortnightly collections. In order to receive funding local authorities will have to guarantee weekly bin rounds for the next five years in order to qualify.

It has long been heralded, however, that fortnightly collections increase recycling rates, which is an important issue if the UK is to meet EU targets. Pickles, however, said it was quite possible to increase recycling rates while also offering weekly collections of all rubbish, even though unofficial figures taken from official records released recently show that the highest recycling rates in the country come from areas that retain fortnightly collections.

Pickles suggested councils could use the new funding scheme to introduce facilities to sort rubbish that can be recycled from that which cannot.

Talking about the fund on the BBC's Today programme, Pickles said: "If you want to have a weekly collection we have levelled the playing field for you to do so but are only going to fund it if we can see an improvement in recycling, an improvement in efficiency and an improvement in procurements and that seems to me to be good value-for-money."

Recycling and waste management company Biffa welcomed the announcement. Biffa chief executive Ian Wakelin said: "It is right to give local authorities the option to choose between weekly or fortnightly bin collections because different systems work in different areas.

"What is vital is that we make it as easy as possible for people to recycle. We know that often means putting all 'dry' recyclables, like cans, paper, plastics and glass, into one 'commingled' bin, which is what Biffa uses for many of its household collections.

"It is then our job to make sure we have the infrastructure and technology in place to recycle it efficiently and effectively."

Darrel Moore