Thousands sign petition urging St Helens Council to scrap three-weekly bin collections

Last week the Local Democracy Reporter Service reported that Labour councillors had agreed – pending council approval – to implement the pilot scheme in February 2019.

Members also discussed where the pilot will take place during the private Labour group meeting, with councillors agreeing to focus on the worst performing areas for recycling.

An e-petition calling for the council to abandon the plans has since been set up and has gained almost 3,700 signatures in just nine days.

Sean McGuigan, who set up the petition, wrote: “Reducing bin collections to a three-weekly basis has rubbed salt in the wounds of many St Helens residents including myself.

“For a town that has so much to offer, that has so much potential, it appears this council is holding the town back.”

One of the main reasons the council is looking to change the service is to reach a recycling rate of 50 per cent.

If the council does not reach the target by 2020, it could be penalised by central government as a result of EU fines.

“Government has given us no alternative,” a St Helens Labour group spokesman said.

“It has set the 50 per cent waste recycling target and the tax for dumping rubbish into landfill.

“The government’s 2020 recycling target is 50 per cent.

“In St Helens borough, we recycle only 37 per cent and, like other places, that rate has declined recently.”

The Labour spokesman said householders now face a ‘stark choice’ – cut down the rubbish we dump or cut key council services.

“We have two years left to either cut in half the brown bin rubbish we put into landfill (dumps) or we will have to pay more than £1 million more, every year for the same waste disposal service,” the spokesman said.

“Because of government cuts on our budget, this can only mean major cuts in services we all use that are already cut to the bone.

“Three quarters of our spending already is for our vulnerable, older people and children.

“Demand for these services is rising every year.”

The three weekly-bin collections, which are part of a wider revamp of waste services, are estimated to save the authority £1.4 million over seven years.

The Labour spokesman said disposing of brown bin rubbish is costlier than recycling, as well as being more harmful to the environment.

“It’s simply better for the planet and our children for us all to recycle more,” the spokesman said.

“We know that more household recycling is possible because a number of nearby councils have managed it by introducing three-weekly brown bin collections – alongside more regular recycled collections.

“Forty other councils now have three or four-weekly brown bin collections.”

The Labour spokesman said research reported to the council task force set up to scrutinise the plans indicated that fly-tipping did not increase in local authority areas where bin collections moved to three-weekly collections.

At the time of writing 3,672 people had signed the e-petition calling for the plans to be scrapped.

Several residents also left comments explaining why they oppose the proposals.

Shaun D wrote: “A three-weekly bin collection is not a reasonable request. While the concept of recycling is great, the thought process behind the project has been very limited.

“We have a small brown bin that is barely sufficient to accommodate a fortnightly collection for a recycling family of four.

“We also have a small black box. It’s flimsy, brittle, easily damaged and blows away in bad weather.”

Hannah C said the three-weekly collections will create an environmental issue.

She said: “All the extra rubbish hanging around will be a huge environmental health issue and will increase the amount of rats hanging around people’s houses.

“Imagine the amount of maggots that will be living off the three-week-old rotting food inside our bins.

“It is hard enough to cope with a two-week bin rota never mind three weeks.”

The Labour spokesman said the group is ‘continually looking at ways to improve’ recycling performance and the waste collection service.

The spokesman reiterated that the council has not made any decision regarding changing waste collections.

“The initial report considered that working with residents to trial possible changes in a few places and evaluating with residents whether the changes worked would be the right thing to do,” the Labour spokesman said.

“It is not possible to be definitive on the cost implications for the current service as that prejudges the conclusions of any trials. Our intention was to improve terms for our staff.

“A choice is fast approaching for St Helens – yet another unreasonable one forced on us by national government.

“We will be working hard to make the best and greenest choice on behalf of current and future generations.”

To sign the petition click here.