Fortnightly waste collections?

We have heard lots recently about public dismay at fortnightly collections. Infact it would seem this is not such a big issue that some papers seem to have made it - in terms of the election the councillors magazine 'First' says their analysis shows "no direct correlation between those councils which had alternate weekly rubbish collections and those which did not in terms of voter swing." - they suggest that "rubbish collection wasn't a vote winning (or losing) issue."

Copyrighted photo reprinted here with permission of Seattle-based photographer Chris Jordan. See more photos.

Clearly that may well not be the reality in individual cases as coverage of the issue varied across the country. We are still waiting for action here in Stroud - still have weekly waste and fortnightly recycling - with still no kitchen waste collection despite repeated requests and calls.

To be fair not all the problems are with Stroud District Council- they have a fair dry recycle rate and haven't made the mistake of providing green waste collection which in many areas like the Forest of Dean artificially raises recycling rates when in fact the stuff should be composted on site. There have also been serious difficulties in getting a site to recycle kitchen waste locally - our Government must take the blame for not pushing this much more and having targets that distort practice.

In fact it is EU legislation that is driving action now as Councils' belatedly wake up to the need to avoid fines....indeed across much of Europe recycling is streets ahead of us. Many, like Germany, have also successfully introduced legislation to restrict unnecessary packaging while our supermarkets seem to package stuff even more. See also my news release here re recycle rates. It is also clear we must not go down the route of incineration.

I understand that already 40% of households in England now have their non-recyclable waste collected fortnightly, usually combined with alternate weekly collection of recyclable waste. In Wales it is more than half.

What about?

Enviros consulting and Gloucestershire's Cranfield university have researched the issue of alternate weekly collections introduced by local government, and whether it will bring rats and other problems. It turns out that if you bag up rubbish properly, there are no adverse health impacts. We need to design systems that work - the issue re smells etc is about getting top-quality wheelie bins with best-fitting lids. Maggots only appear if waste is not wrapped properly and dirty bins are not rinsed.

Household waste is only some 20% of waste but it is significant tonnage.

Here's a comment from a Green waste guru: "Alternate weekly collections (AWC) work where the population has been given proper support and education along with the ability to divert most of their waste to recycling and composting. It fails very badly when you just stop collecting every other week. AWC must be the last stage of transformation of waste collection into resource recovery. It is in effect the stick to use on those who are not using recycling. I would like people to be encouraged to put the wheelly bin out once a month or when full."

It is clear that AWC is not popular and should be seen as the last stage of a waste strategy once everything else is working. I support AWC but when the residuals bin have very little in them. The greenest and best value plan starts with lots of education.