Landfill waste collections could be reduced to once every four weeks under Green Party plans (Image: Tom Wren / SWNS)
Bins could be emptied in Bristol once a month at a time council tax soars in a move that has sparked widespread anger.
The Green Party run authority wants household landfill waste in black bins collected once every four weeks in a UK-first.
It claims switching from fortnightly collections would save it more than £2 million a year and arrest a slide in recycling rates.
But the proposal has been met with fury with six in 10 in the south west city feeling “very negative” about the change and thousands signing a petition against the move.
Bristol is home to about 500,000 people living in 200,000 homes. Each resident, on average, creates up to 400kg of household waste a year.
The proposal comes as the cash-strapped council is considering levying inflation-busting 15% council tax increase which would add £245 to average bills.
Martin Fodor, chairman of the council’s environment and sustainability committee, said: “Anything that ends up in the black bin waste is taken away for incineration or sent to landfill – both of which come with serious environmental and cost issues.
“Burning or leaving waste to decompose in landfill releases carbon and other harmful substances into the atmosphere. This pollutes the air around us and also contributes to fuelling climate change.
“Changing government regulation and the increasing costs of dealing with black bin waste means that to keep managing our city’s waste as we currently do is set to become much more expensive.”
More than 5,000 people have signed a petition against the move (Image: Tom Wren / SWNS)
A six-week consultation has been launched but last night <<Weds>> more than 5,000 people had signed a petition against the idea.
Some say it will lead to a massive spike in fly-tipping, while others say they will bury landfill waste at the bottom of recycling bins which are collected every fortnight.
Council chiefs claim 50% of the contents of black bin waste in Bristol is food, paper and card, glass, plastic and cans, textiles and electrical items that also could all be recycled.
For the past two years, Bristol has recycled about 45% of its household waste – among the best in the UK – but the rate is plummeting.
Tom Renhard, the Bristol city council’s Labour group leader, said: “Bristolians shouldn’t have to pay more and get less.
“Before considering whether to go to four-weekly bin collections there needs to be a focus on sorting out the existing service first and making sure that’s functioning as it should be.”
He added: “Missed collections are already a problem across Bristol. These problems need to be fixed first.
“Under these plans, if someone misses their monthly collection, they will have rubbish in their house for a whole extra month before the next bin collection.
“This could lead to increases in fly-tipping – which is already a scourge across our city.
“Monthly bin collection will have a disproportionate impact on larger families and households.”
Lynsey Crombie, TV’s self-styled Queen of Clean, said if the council pressed ahead with the changes taxpayers would “revolt”
Bristol was the scene of civil disorder in 2020 when a bronze statue of merchant and trans-Atlantic slave trader Edward Colston was toppled, defaced, and thrown into the city’s harbour.
An Express audit of the council in 2023 showed it employed 16 staff in vague Equality, Diversity and Inclusion roles at an annual cost to ratepayers of £418,170.26.