A proposal to switch to collecting the bins every four weeks in Bristol has been dropped by council chiefs after a massive backlash from the city’s residents against the idea.
The council leader in charge of bin collections said the idea was only put into a consultation as ‘an outlier’, was ‘always unlikely to go ahead’ and has now been dropped after they listened to the ‘strength of feeling’ on the proposal.
The opposition Labour group on Bristol City Council, which organised a petition signed by more than 10,000 people, hailed the decision as a ‘U-turn’, made after Labour forced the hand of the ruling Green group by posting a question to tonight’s full council meeting.
The ruling Green-led coalition had put a range of proposals in a consultation on the future of waste and recycling services, and one of the ideas was to switch from collecting the black-bin waste from every fortnight to every four weeks, along with not changing anything, or switching to every three weeks.
According to Cllr Martin Fodor, the chair of the environment committee responsible for the bins, although the decision has not formally been made by the cross-party committee, the Green Party has ruled out supporting four-weekly black bin collections in Bristol.
“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,” Cllr 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,” he added.
The Greens said they have previously pledged to increase Bristol’s recycling rate. They said that Bristol’s recycling rate started to decrease under the previous administration and is now at about 45%. This needs to increase to 65% by 2035 to be in line with the Government’s ‘Resource and Waste Strategy’, the council chiefs said.
The consultation will now look at other ideas, and the three-weekly collection is still on the table. “There are many changes that we need to make as a city to improve our recycling rate,” said Cllr James Crawford, who also sits on the Environment and Sustainability committee.
“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,” he added.
The Labour Party were quick to claim victory in the battle of the bins, issuing their statement calling it a U-turn within two minutes of the announcement. The Labour Group posted a motion to tonight’s full council which called on the Green Party to make it clear whether they were still actively considering a four-weekly collection, despite the backlash – and that triggered the Greens to announce that they weren’t.
The Labour Group’s motion, if passed, would resolve the council to ‘Rule out the move to four-weekly black bin collections and explore other measures to improve recycling rates across the city.’
However, the Green Party have tabled an amendment to this motion, which removes that clause and replaces it with ‘Following the strength of feeling expressed on the option of four weekly bin collections, acknowledge that whilst the task and finish group will review all consultation results and make full recommendations, we will rule out moving to four weekly collections at this time.’
“This signals their party has changed course and will now put plans for four-weekly collections firmly on the backburner,” a Labour spokesperson said. “Labour councillors welcome the Green-led council dropping this policy for now, but are concerned the council is only committing to rule out a move to four-weekly collections ‘at this time’ – not ruling it out for good,” he added.
During today’s meeting of Full Council, the opposition Labour Group will present a petition, signed by over 12,000 people, calling on Bristol City Council to scrap plans for four-weekly black bin collection. “The Labour Group believe this number of signatories demonstrates the strength of feeling against four-weekly collections, and the Greens need to categorically rule it out,” the spokesperson added.
Labour’s leader at Bristol City Council, Cllr Tom Renhard, said the news of the Greens’ decision was ‘welcome’ but needed to be firmed up. “The Green-led council ruling out a move to four-weekly black bin collection – at least for now – is welcome, if long overdue news but I am concerned they may bring this issue back to the chamber and I would urge them to give firm assurances to Bristol residents that will not be the case,” Cllr Renhard said.
“The 12,000-plus people who signed our petition have sent a clear message that Bristolians do not support this cut in services. It has been clear from the start that this policy is totally unworkable. The Greens dropping it will be a relief to all, particularly those with larger families or newborns, who need fortnightly black bin collections,” he added.
“Labour councillors won’t support any cut to the frequency of bin collections. Waste and recycling collection is the one service that every council tax payer uses and relies upon; it needs to be protected from their cuts. The council administration received a significant funding uplift this year, so it should investigate ways to increase recycling rates without cutting services, and commit to keeping fortnightly bin collection,” he added.