WOKINGHAM Borough Council’s refuse collection policy has come under fire after residents challenged the price of additional blue bin bags and the process through which they can be purchased.
Each household was given 54 blue bags in March to use throughout the year, with additional bags available to buy from the council at £10.50 for a roll of 10.
Blue bags are collected once a week and are used to dispose of household rubbish which can’t be recycled or disposed of as food waste, as well as pet waste and bedding, but some residents aren’t happy with their implementation across the borough.
Resident Paul Clarkson, whose name has been changed, says that between his wife, children and dogs, his household has already used up their complement of bags for the year.
He explained: “£1 a bag is daylight robbery. We’ve had our son and his girlfriend staying with us and used 54 in a number of months, making it six of us and two dogs.
“The council is so strict with what you can and can’t recycle. If packaging is grey or black you can’t recycle it, it’s got to be clear. If they changed those rules, the demand for more blue bags would go down.”
Wokingham Borough Council provides additional blue bin bags for ‘larger households’. Households with five people are entitled to 10 extra bags and those with six people 20 extra bags.
But Mr Clarkson believes that the process to order the additional bags is overly complicated. He claimed he wasn’t able to get ahold of anyone from the council to acquire the additional bags.
He said: “We pay council tax to Wokingham Borough Council, essentially for them not to do their job. It’s really disappointing.”
Cllr Stephen Conway, leader of the council, defended the price of additional blue bin bags, saying that they reflected not only the cost of making, delivering and collecting them, but also disposing of the rubbish.
He reiterated the council’s priority to encourage residents to throw away less and recycle more.
He explained: “This is something we can all easily do, as our last study showed that over half of what people throw away in a typical blue bag could have been recycled, with food waste being the biggest culprit. If everyone put out all their recyclable materials, including food waste, for recycling, we could save over £1 million a year as it costs more to send this to landfill.
“We really want this to happen because we’re facing a triple threat of dire financial challenges: high inflation, growing need for social care and inadequate funding from central government. We’re asking residents to help us make savings so we can continue looking after those who need us most.
“Recycling isn’t hard as most household recyclables are conveniently collected at the kerbside from your green bag. You can recycle glass bottles and soft plastics at many supermarkets, and the online Recycling Locator tool on Recycle Now website can help find the nearest one.
“To help you recycle more, we’re making more green recycling bags available – if you need more, you can order them on our website and collect them from one of our collection hubs.
“Larger households can request additional blue bags and the process is clearly explained on our website. Anyone having difficulty with this can email or call our customer service team.”
