Forum Topic

Cameron's U-Turn on weekly bin collections

Apparently Cameron has gone back on his word to compel councils to collect bins weekly. That's his fourth U-Turn lately I believe!I think we are alright in Ealing though as the Labour council has made it plain they were never going to go to fortnightly collections anyway. However many other councils are only going to collect bins once every two weeks. I wouldn't want to live in their boroughs.

John Holt ● 5077d7 Comments

Pickles going on about having his chicken tikka leftovers taken away. Like he ever has any leftovers!

Susan Kelly ● 5074d

"Cameron's policy to force councils to go back to weekly bin collections would have cost hundreds of millions of pounds for council tax payers, had a knock-on-effect on other local services in terms of funding and would have reduced progress made on recycling rates so far."Quite right, although this was the hapless bag of wind Eric 'Localism My Way' Pickles, really, who is genuinely trying to run relations with local government according to what goes well on the Daily Mail front-page.  Refuse collection times should be a matter for the local authority, not enforced by Whitehall diktat.  Mind you, Cameron gave him the job.

Thomas Barry ● 5074d

I agree. A politician must ditch bad policies. But I wouldn't have expected one to be so much of it so quickly and I'm not filled with confidence in a politician who seems to be backtracking on so much important policies at the moment. Surely he has advisers who advise him what the predicted effects of his policy ideas are likely to be?

John Holt ● 5076d

Our food waste is collected weekly for the anaerobic digester so there's no reason for our black bags to be smelly or to attract rats or foxes.I suspect that penalising people who won't recycle would be very unpopular. Perhaps a carrot rather than a stick: I believe that Windsor offers vouchers for local businesses for people who recycle.On the subject of weakness, I prefer a politician who admits to being wrong and changing course than one who sticks to a bad policy for fear of seeming weak. It would be nice if they didn't waste money pursuing bad policies before doing a U-turn, though.

Susan Kelly ● 5076d

You make valid points about recycling. Waste costs us all money so measures to boost recycling are well worth it. Cameron's policy to force councils to go back to weekly bin collections would have cost hundreds of millions of pounds for council tax payers, had a knock-on-effect on other local services in terms of funding and would have reduced progress made on recycling rates so far.Why hadn't Cameron worked that one out before making a manifesto pledge to force councils to revert to weekly collections? Now he appears weak and shortsighted for making yet another largescale U-turn.

John Holt ● 5076d

I have to agree with you Susan.I have now become a 'evangelistic' recycler. There are four adults in my household and we produce less than a quarter (if that) of a black bag of 'non-recyclable' rubbish between us each week. If we wenet to fortnightky collections if would have no effect. If you can't be bothered to recycle then possibly we should move to a system which penalises the profligate - excepting those few of course who cannot recycle due to infirmity or location,and rewards  those who make the effort.

Nigel Brooks ● 5077d

Surely, if it makes people recycle, especially food to produce energy, then it's a good thing. Too many people just can't be arsed.

Susan Kelly ● 5077d