Monthly bin collection scheme is looted by the council

Bristol could become the first major city in England to collect black waste bins every four weeks under new plans, the city council says.

The Green Party-led authority already has the highest recycling rate among “core cities” in England, with 45% of household waste recycled. It has launched a public consultation on possible changes to the three-weekly or four-weekly collection till March 10.

The authority’s deputy leader, Heather Mack, said the move would reduce costs and “impact on the environment”, but opposition councilors said there were growing complaints about the existing service that needed to be sorted first.

Many English local authorities already have tri-weekly collections.

The council said switching to three-weekly black bin collection would save the council £1.3MA a year, while four-weekly collection would save £2.3m.

The move has been proposed to encourage greater recycling of food waste.

Bristol City Council said that around 50% of households do not recycle food waste, and a quarter of most black bin rubbish is food, which could be recycled.

The council said approximately 700 pounds of food is thrown away per household each year.

Food waste is sent to an anaerobic digestion plant and the resulting methane is converted into energy by burning the waste, with the by-product used for farm fertilizer.

The council is also facing rising costs of treating waste, which have increased by £4m over the past five years.

Ms Mack said: “Having a tax on that residual waste that we send to be processed, for the carbon in it.

“So we really need to consider how much we are sending and where it might go.

“We will also introduce larger bins for larger households and an additional collection for those with sanitary products or nappies, so we don’t want people to struggle with this,” she said.

The plans have been criticized by opposition parties at City Hall.

Labor group leader Tom Reinhardt said: “The focus needs to be on sorting out the existing service.

“I am increasingly receiving complaints from local residents across the city that recycling is not being collected and black bins are not being collected on the (current) two-weekly basis.

“Some of my residents did not have a recycling collection this side of Christmas.

“You’re also starting to see that if residents’ recycling isn’t being collected and it’s piling up, they’re going to put it in the bin, which is not going to help recycling rates.”