The much discussed and controversial blue bins
The way in which rubbish and recycling is collected in Tamworth is to change later this year, making the lifes of Tamworth residents that little bit simpler when it comes to bin day.
As part of the new scheme being introduced, the controversial blue bins will be phased out, being replaced by a single blue bin for all recycling, with the sorting being carried out at the recycling depot. As well as the new blue bin, waste collection will also return to being a weekly collection, reducing the problems with maggots and smelly bins that has been common during the summer months.
“We are pleased to be able to tell everyone that the current unsatisfactory bin scheme is going to be binned,” said council leader, Cllr Jeremy Oates. “We will introduce the single bin and weekly collections in a phased manner so we spot glitches in the system and solve them quickly. We want a smooth transition this time.”
Details at this time aren’t available as the roll out of the new scheme, but be sure to check back at Tamworth Blog for updates.
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I commend the single bin recycling idea, I presume it will be a mini blue wheelie bin.
As for the weekly refuse collection, I think this is a simple case of people jumping on the ‘Tabloid TV’ campaigns, as the last time I remember a weekly collection was the early 80’s, it’s certainly been fortnightly since 1984, and with no problems … Until the rash of headline grabbing stories last year no one gave a damn, and I suspect 95% of residents still don’t.
Will this increase in collections mean an increase in council tax ? Of course it will, and yet again the majority will end up paying for the irresponsible minority. Bag your refuse properly and there’s no problem, simple as that!
The weekly collections ended in 2004. It has only been the last few years when the refuse has only been collected once a fortnight (http://www.recycle.co.uk/localauthorities/42354869.html).
I came to Tamworth from near Burton, maybe they’re just a bit more progressive there 🙂
It’s certainly a regressive step to revert to weekly collections, It’ll take a 100% increase in manual and mechanical energy to collect, meaning a larger carbon footprint, and will discourage even more people from recycling, most of the refuse can go into the blue boxes and the fortnightly collection encouraged people to recycle … Oh well, one step forward 2 steps back, plus the inevitable increase in council tax.
I’m with you Bec, if people bag their rubbish properly there shouldn’t be any problems with fortnightly collections. I’d be most interested to see whether the recycling rates drop as a result of the weekly collections too.
Surely if we’re doubling the frequency of collections we should be halving the size of the wheely bins too?
Yes, as it is at the moment the blue boxes make up about 50% of my waste, I even remove the labels from tins I’m that enthusiastic about recycling 🙂
But by regressing to a weekly collection most people will recycle less, costs will go up not only for the collection itself (a 100% increase), but for the extra land fill charges the council will incur, and for what? So an irresponsible and vocal minority who fail to bag their waste properly can be placated.