Green council forced to ditch ‘mad’ bin collection scheme after backlash

Green Party-run Council has backtracked on plans to slash to once every four weeks after 12,000 locals signed a petition demanding for the change to be scrapped. Councillors argued that the new policy, which was proposed in a six week consultation, could save the local authority up to £2.3 million a year, on top of its environmental benefits.

But, ahead of this month’s full council meeting, the administration has confirmed that it won’t be folllowing through with the plans, after over 12,000 people signed the Labour Party’s petition against the new schedule. “Bristolians are sick to the back teeth of their council’s hare-brained schemes,” Benjamin Elks, of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, told The Telegraph. “Residents shouldn’t have to put up with overflowing bins and filthy streets just because the council is more interested in virtue-signalling than doing its job,” he added.

Martin Fodor, chair of the cross-party environment and sustainability committee, said the monthly collection model had “always [been] unlikely to go ahead”.

“Based on what we’ve heard and the strength of feeling that this has generated across the city, the Greens will not be supporting any proposals put forward to move to four-weekly collections at this time,” he added.

“I would like to thank everyone who made the time to make their voice heard.”

Andrew Brown, deputy leader of the council’s Liberal Democrat group, previously raised concerns that the decreased collections would cause a surge in fly-tipping, while Tory leader Mark Weston described the proposal as “mad”, suggesting that it had caused residents to “question what value they are getting from their council tax”.

Mr Weston also accused the council of “forcing everyone to recycle” and attempting to boost Bristol’s recycling rate, which currently sits at 45%, roughly the average for all of the UK.

Tom Renhard, Labour leader on Bristol Council told the : “It has been clear from the start that this policy is totally unworkable.”

“The Greens dropping it will be a relief to all, particularly those with larger families or newborns, who need fortnightly black bin collections,” he added.

“Waste and recycling collection is the one service that every council tax payer uses and relies upon; it needs to be protected from their cuts.”