At last week’s full council meeting, Peter Humphreys asked Jordan Montgomery, executive member for environment and climate emergency about whether Wokingham Borough Council could provide smaller wheeled bins.
He said: “I recently received a huge wheelie bin and enquired whether it would be possible to have a smaller one.
“After some confusion, when I contacted environment services I was initially told the bins only come in one size – but then another officer conceded that there are in fact two sizes – large and extra-large.
“You’ll be familiar with the quote ‘build it and they will come’ in the Hollywood movie Field of Dreams.
“It would seem WBC environment services have amended this to the mantra ‘supply it and they will fill it’, by providing enormous bins and challenging residents to fill them.
“This is totally contrary to the government’s aim of reducing waste by encouraging recycling.
“Not everyone has a large driveway leading to the back of their house where their ugly bin can be stored.
“Surely it would be possible for the council to supply a smaller, more practical, bin to encourage recycling and maintain the pleasant aesthetic of our borough?”
In his reply, Cllr Montomery said: “The provision of 180-litre bins is the standard size container for the majority of households in the borough.
“The larger families, for those households with incontinence waste, a larger 240-litre bin can be provided following an assessment.
“The council’s intent is to minimise waste, and the drive is not to fill the bin as almost 70% of the contents of blue bags under the current system can be recycled, so there should be very little in the wheeled bin,
He added that the smaller, 140-litre bins are the same height but have a smaller base, which is more likely to topple when moving.
“We recommend residents place the black bin in their back gardens if it is accessible, but if this is not possibl the bins should be placed in the front gardens – and can be decorated to make them more aesthetically pleasing.
He added that residents that are unable to present their bins for collection due to mobility issues and have no other person in the household who is able to help, can request an assisted collection where the crew will collect and return the bins from an agreed location at the front of the property.
