Approximately one in ten councils throughout the UK are reducing one or more bin collection services, even while council tax is anticipated to rise.
This equates to 42 councils nationwide, according to statistics from the Taxpayers’ Alliance.
This situation also indicates that nearly 8 million residents could be impacted by changes to their bin collection schedule.
Meanwhile, 800,000 individuals will need to cope with the transition from weekly recycling services to collections every two weeks or even monthly.
The context is further complicated as over 2 million individuals face a council tax hike of between 5-10% this year, following government approval for six regions to raise rates above the standard 5% cap.
Residents of Bristol, Carmarthenshire, and East Ayrshire are facing potential cuts in waste collection frequency to just once a month.
The situation in Bristol is so severe that residents have initiated a petition to halt these changes.
However, for numerous financially challenged councils, cutting back on bin collections represents a viable means of conserving funds.
North Ayrshire, Dundee, Angus, and East Ayrshire may alter their recycling schedules to once a month.
Additionally, 13 councils are planning to extend the interval between fortnightly residual waste collections to three weeks.
This includes East Hertfordshire, which is also weighing the option of reducing bin sizes from 240 to 180 litres.
Joanna Marchong, investigations campaign manager for the TaxPayers’ Alliance, stated: ‘Residents will be left perplexed when the waste collection vehicles fail to arrive, resulting in rubbish accumulating.
‘An alarming number of councils are contemplating cutting collections, which will leave residents grappling with ever-increasing piles of waste.
‘Local authorities must cease mismanaging essential services and concentrate on providing the services that taxpayers fund.’
Modifications to bin collection procedures in England were declared in 2023 – following the government announcement of new regulations on recycling.
From 2026, every county and borough in England will have mandated recycling of identical materials.
This initiative aims to streamline recycling efforts in England.
Furthermore, food waste bins will be collected at least once a week to minimize landfill contributions.
England’s current recycling rates have remained stagnant at roughly 44% over the past decade.
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