‘Bin these rubbish collection changes’

Jan 2 2008 by Barry Gibson, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

‘BIN THESE RUBBISH COLLECTION CHANGES’

THOUSANDS of people are being asked their views on controversial changes to bin collections – and it seems that most are against them.

In some parts of Kirklees grey bins are now emptied fortnightly rather than weekly, but people say they can’t fit their rubbish in and fly-tipping is on the rise as a result.

Recyclable rubbish is collected every two weeks rather than every four.

Greenhead’s three Labour councillors want to keep weekly grey bin collections.

Along with party activists, they are hand-delivering questionnaires on the issue to all 7,000 households in the ward.

Clr Mehboob Khan said: “No-one who I or my colleagues have spoken to wants to axe weekly grey bin collections. We want people to give us their views and support our campaign to keep our areas clean.”

Almondbury, Dalton and Denby Dale are among the areas of Kirklees which have switched to fortnightly collections.

Springwood became the first part of Greenhead to make the change in September.

But Clr Khan said it had not been a success.

“We have received a massive number of complaints from people who are not able to fit all their rubbish in their grey bin,’’ he said. “There has been an increase in fly-tipping and rubbish in gardens.

“People in Springwood are really worried what will happen when the warm weather comes or when a collection is missed.”

Clr Khan added that scrapping weekly collections had not worked elsewhere in the country.

He said: “Hundreds of councils experimented with fortnightly collection of grey bins and many have returned to weekly collections after experiencing massive problems.

“The National Pest Technicians Association says there has been a 69% increase in vermin infestation in some councils areas where weekly collections have been scrapped.”

And Clr Khan doesn’t believe the policy encourages recycling.

He said: “The House of Commons Local Government Committee said fortnightly collections had not been proven to increase recycling and can cause health problems. If Kirklees wants to encourage recycling, this is not the way to go about it.”

Homes in Huddersfield were warned before Christmas not to leave out extra rubbish for the bin men – even if it is recyclable.

Kirklees Council says binmen will collect only the material left in the wheeled green bins.

This has been criticised by people anxious to do their bit for the environment. But council officials insist householders can get an extra green bin for free if they want to get rid of extra rubbish.