Council bin collection plans to become more widespread

In the last article we reported how London councillors are considering increasing the schedule for rubbish collections in the capital to a fortnightly service and how this has been opposed by fire chiefs.

However, councils have moved swiftly to put the blame firmly at the doorstep of fly-tippers and arsonists when it comes to rubbish fires.

Councillor Gary Porter, chairman of the Local Government Association environment board, explained:

“Local authorities recognise the need to keep the risk of bin fires to a minimum.

“The problem is with irresponsible arsonists and fly-tippers who are determined to make other people’s lives a misery.

“An easy target is rubbish that has been dumped by people who can’t be bothered to dispose of their waste responsibly.”

Despite this, Bob Neill the Fire Services minister is looking to agree on a solution with councils regarding this issue following revelations from a survey in July that almost half of councils are planning to reduce the services of bin collections and street cleaning in the near future to save money.

He said:

“This is a very serious issue, given refuse fires account for almost half of all outdoor fires.

“This just shows that cutting frontline services like weekly collections is a false economy.

“The public now pay a lot of money in council tax, and want a decent bin collection in return.

“The new Government will be working with councils to improve the quality and frequency of rubbish and recycling collections.”