THE BIGGEST shake-up to Wokingham borough’s waste collections is on the cards as councillors have started the process to switch from weekly blue bags to fortnightly wheelie bin collections.
Last night, the borough council’s overview and scrutiny committee met to consider a plan that is expected to save millions over the next decade.
If the scheme goes ahead, it will start from next summer, and follows a consultation that showed that nearly three-quarters of people either liked, accepted or had a neutral position when it came to fortnightly collections.
At the moment, Wokingham is one of the few councils that collect general waste on a weekly basis. Four in five councils do doorstep pick-ups on a fortnightly or three-weekly basis.
When Bracknell Forest Council switched in 2007, they saw recycling rates increase by 13%, while Reading switched in 2006 and saw a 10% uplift.
The council argues that at the moment around half of the material placed in blue bags could be recycled in some form, and at the moment this is costing £1 million a year.
The green recycling sacks would stay, but many residents would need additional bags to cope with the switch to a fortnightly system. Blue bags would no longer be issued.
The cost of buying the wheelie bins would be staggered over subsequent years. It is estimated that it would cost £1.5 million, and an additional £460,000 for the delivery costs.
However, switching is expected to decrease the amount of waste placed in the bins by a fifth, but see recycling increase by 13%, and food waste increase by 22%.
At last Thursday’s council meeting, Wokingham Conservatives presented a petition featuring almost 1,800 signatures calling for the status quo to be maintained.
Cllr Norman Jorgensen, Shadow Executive Member for Environment and Leisure said, “Most residents we speak to, regardless of political affiliation, wish this service to continue on a weekly basis.
“The consultation carried out by the Lib/Lab coalition did not contain the option to retain weekly waste collections, so it was flawed and pre-determined from the outset. Even with this attempt at rigging the answer, only 24% liked the idea of fortnightly waste collections.”
He said that just because the scheme would save money, it didn’t make it a good idea.
“Officers estimate moving to fortnightly collections will cost £2 million in 2023/24, and it won’t start until Summer 2024 – so substantial extra avoidable expenditure and definitely no savings in the short term.
“There is no guarantee that savings will be made. Council estimates are based on the assumption that residents will suddenly stop creating 3% of the waste they currently produce (where will it go?), and recycle 13% more dry waste and 20% more food waste. Relying on such substantial changes to deliver any savings is clearly a very risky strategy.
“We believe it needs to be made easier for people to recycle, for example by extending the range of materials that can be recycled. In the last few years of Conservative control in Wokingham Borough, recycling was increased substantially to 55% in this way. Our target is to increase recycling to 70%.”
He added: “In their election literature in 2018, the Liberal candidates also pledged to maintain weekly waste collections. Now they’re scrapping it. Seems you can’t trust what they say.”
Cllr Clive Jones, the leader of Wokingham Borough Council, disagreed.
“The vast majority of council now have fortnightly collections and they work really really well,” he said. “Food caddies will continue to be collected.
“Recyclable waste in blue bags costs every council taxpayer money because it’s going into landfill or incineration.”
