WEEKLY COLLECTIONS ARE A LOAD OF RUBBISH

25-04-2007

The Local Government Association has thrown its weight behind fortnightly rubbish collections - saying it’s the only way ahead for councils keen on recycling.

The LGA has printed a league table of “green” local authorities and locally only Lichfield makes the top ten with a 45% recycling rate - twice the national average.

In common with all of the othersuccessful councils, the Staffordshire town has scrapped its weekly waste collection, an alternates it with a recycling run - although residents have been known to complain of the whiff from their wheelie bins.

The unpleasant odour and fears that uncollected rubbish might attract rats have prompted the Daily Mail to launch a campaign to bring back weekly collections.

Sandy Bruce Lockhart, the chairman of the LGA dismissed their concerns, saying: "Britain is the dustbin of Europe with more rubbish being thrown into landfill than any other country on the continent.

"For decades people have been used to being able to throw their rubbish away without worrying about environmental consequences or rising costs. Those days are now over.”

Stirrer blogger Lynn Hawthorn reported this week about the problems she’s encountering in Sandwell where well-meaning attempts to introduce wheelie bins andintroduce three other "waste streams" aren’t working out as well in practice as in theory (see her article here).

So far Birmingham has resisted axing the weekly collection, but maybe that’s something for it’s new Sustainability and Climate Change team to consider when it’s creation is rubber-stamped by Cabinet on Monday.