The Greens were urged to stick to fortnightly black bin collections by Labour and Conservative councillors who warned of increased fly-tipping. But Green councillors said there was “virtually no correlation” between how often bins are emptied and fly-tipping.
Waste bosses at Bristol City Council are considering a switch to a three-weekly collection for general waste, to cut costs and drive up recycling rates. They believe much of what people throw away into black bins could be recycled, like food and plastic.
But the idea is controversial, with fears over smelly nappies piling up, and families and shared houses suffering with overflowing bins. Bristol Waste, a council-owned company, is already struggling to pick up all the bins on collection day, and satisfaction with the service is dropping.
Earlier this week, the Greens said they wouldn’t support a move to a four-weekly collection. Labour and the Conservatives urged the Greens to also rule out a move to a three-weekly collection, raising fears of “rats patrolling the streets”, in a full council meeting on Tuesday, March 11.
Over 12,000 petitioned the council against the move to a monthly collection, while more than 16,500 people responded to a recent public consultation about changes to bin collections. A group of councillors will analyse the results of the consultation, before a final decision is taken by the environment policy committee. Changes could be rolled out before the end of the year.
Cllr Tom Renhard, leader of the Labour group, said that large families were already filling up their black bins every fortnight. A new nappy recycling trial rejected his application to sign up, which Labour says only serves 400 households in seven postcodes across Bristol and should be extended.
He said: “I recently became a dad again to a second beautiful baby girl. I tried to sign up to the nappy recycling trial, but I was disappointed that I wasn’t accepted onto it. This trial isn’t citywide, nor is it permanent. Replacing food waste bins also isn’t possible, as Bristol Waste is out of stock. If we want less food going into black bins, let’s start by getting the basics right.
“I would suggest a field trip to Conwy. They went to four-weekly and fly-tipping went up there. Residents are right to be concerned about the impact of reducing the frequency of black bin collections. This consultation was a ruse. Four-weekly was probably there so that you could get three-weekly through, that would match the budget cut.”
Conwy, in north Wales, has collected black bins once every four weeks for several years, and has a high recycling rate of 70 per cent. However, there are also reports of adverts on local social media pages for private bin collections in between the monthly service from the council.
The Tories said many residents already effectively get a three-weekly collection, due to the high number of missed collections. They warned that moving to a three-weekly regime would result in increased fly-tipping, and said the Greens inherited a “poisoned chalice” from the former Labour administration, which changed collection routes causing severe problems.
Conservative Councillor John Goulandris said: “The Green message on bins is clear and cruel — ignore the fact that most Bristolians are quite happy with two-weekly black bin collections and instead terrify Bristolians with the thought of four-weekly black bin collections, with horrendous images of mountains of waste piling up and rats patrolling our streets.
“And then like a benevolent deus ex machina, Cllr Fodor says ‘three-weekly bin collections’ as if it’s a major improvement and a generous compromise. That’s straight out of the Donald Trump playbook of political thuggery. JD Vance, Marco Rubio and all the folks at Mar-a-Lago, Florida, salute you.
“Bristolians are not stupid or gullible. They will not be impressed by this vacuous, transatlantic style of political theatre. They will wonder how proper it is to cut the waste budget before the results of the consultation have been assessed. How can you possibly respond to what the people of Bristol want, when you’ve already cut the budget and made up your minds?”
Twice before the council has reduced the amount of general waste collected, both leading to large and sustained increases in recycling rates. In 2006, the council switched to fortnightly collections, and in 2011, the size of the black bin shrunk. The latest changes include switching recycling boxes for large sealable sacks, to prevent rubbish getting blown across the street.
Driving up recycling rates also helps Bristol Waste balance its books, as the recycled material is sold on to packaging producers. Disposing of general waste costs the firm money, and this is expected to go up soon with new climate laws. The majority of general waste is incinerated, including much useful material that could be given a second life if it were recycled instead.
Green Cllr Martin Fodor, chair of the environment policy committee, said: “The recent deterioration of services followed crews being removed in 2023 from bin and recycling services, and from street sweeping in suburbs, and from fly-tipping crews responding to fly-tipping. These cuts had a marked impact on perceptions in the city.
“The damage the previous administration caused still needs more work to resolve, to reverse it, and above all, funding to restore the crews. We need to catch more rogue businesses who cause fly-tipping.
“There is virtually no correlation at all between the cost of bulky waste disposal, the frequency of bins being emptied, and the amount of fly-tipping. Fly-tipping comes mainly from cowboys and waste criminals. We do need to catch more fly-tippers, and that’s why we’ve got more mobile cameras.”