‘Cash offer’ for bin collections
Author: Local Government Chronicle |
Councils are to be encouraged to reinstate weekly bin collections with the lure of financial incentives, it was reported over the weekend.
More than half of local authorities have shifted to fortnightly collections of general household rubbish in recent years as part of an attempt to encourage people to recycle more.
So-called alternate week collections have prooved unpopular ih the media, which have reported concerns that leaving rubbish for up to a fortnight is unhygienic and attracts vermin. There have also been claims that it has led to a rise in fly-tipping.
But according to The Daily Telegraph, ministers are set to offer financial incentives to councils if they reinstate the weekly collections. A similar scheme was used to encourage town halls to freeze council tax this year.
The budget for the plan is thought to be about 100m, the paper said.
It will apparently be included in the waste review to be published shortly by the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA).
A DEFRA spokesman described the report as ?speculation?.
A DEFRA spokesman said: ?We won’t comment on speculation about the final detail of the waste review.
?It is important that the right polices are in place to help communities and businesses reduce waste and maximise recovery of materials through recycling.
?The review will be published shortly.