Wigan council has announced changes to its waste and recycling collection service, which it is claimed will save £2 million from the cost of the service each year.
The changes, which include a switch to a three-weekly residual waste collection from September 2017, are aimed at increasing the council’s recycling and composting rate from 43% to 50%.
Wigan is moving to a three weekly collection service for waste
At present the council’s residual waste collection is carried out on a fortnightly service, alongside a brown bin collection for plastic, glass and metal cans, a fortnightly green bin organic waste collection, and a blue bin collection service for paper and card, which is carried out every four weeks.
Following the changes to the collection service – green bin collections will remain on a fortnightly cycled, whilst the other containers will be collected on a three-weekly rotation.
Trend
Wigan – a Unitary authority – is the latest north-west council to seek to move towards a three-weekly residual waste service with Salford, Rochdale, Bury and Oldham having reduced collection frequency.
The changes follow a consultation period, carried out early this year, during which residents offered their feedback on the proposals. The original proposals were to suspend the green bin from November to March each year but these have been scrapped after feedback. The green bin collection will now continue all year round.
The council has pledged to support residents with the changes and will be issuing an information pack to every household with simple information about what can and can’t be recycled to make it as easy as possible.
Plans
Karl Battersby, Wigan’s director for economy and environment, said: “We want to thank people for taking the time to comment on the original plans. We have listened to the suggestions and made changes based on this feedback – including a more frequent blue bin collection, a less frequent brown collection and reinstating the green bin to a two weekly collection all year round to help residents manage their food waste better.
“We’re going to be flexible with people and help them through the initial few months when the collections change.
“We don’t want people panicking that they won’t have a collection for six weeks if they miss their collection. We’ll be relaxing our missed bin policy and be fair with our residents to help them as much as possible.
“The Deal is all about us working together to deliver local services in these challenging times. These changes focus on delivering our financial savings and boosting our recycling rate.”
New calendars will be sent to every household in the summer explaining their new collections.
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Source: letsrecycle.com Waste Managment
