Council pushes ahead with plans to reduce black bin collections despite residents' opposition

A recent consultation carried out by the council asked people their views on changing black bin collections to once every three weeks, to coincide with the introduction of weekly food waste collections, showed the vast majority of residents who responded did not approve of the proposal.

The consultation, held during September and October 2024, received 6,257 responses. Whilst a proportion of respondents (13%) supported the Council's preferred option, the majority of respondents (84%) opposed its implementation.

Of those opposed, respondents expressed concerns about the potential negative impacts, such as an increase in vermin, pests, and smells due to overflowing bins and certain waste products being left within the bins for a longer period. There were also worries about an increase in fly-tipping and contamination of other bins, especially since the recent closure of some local HWRC sites and the introduction of a booking system at the weekend.

Following the outcome of the consultation, updated proposals for black bin collections will be presented to the council's environment and communities committee on 27 November.

Changes include:

• Larger waste education and enforcement teams – The updated proposals include plans to recruit an additional four waste education officers and four community enforcement officers. In collaboration with town and parish councils, they will be targeted to areas where current data shows need is greatest, including in Crewe.
• Enforcement – the council is proposing to put in place a borough-wide 'section 46' notice. Following work to educate residents, this would give the council greater powers to issue fixed penalties to those who continue to incorrectly dispose of their waste, such as leaving bins out for several days before or after their collection day.
• Medical Needs – Currently, only certain households are eligible for a larger black bin. The council is proposing to update its waste policies to clarify who would qualify in future if three-weekly collections are introduced, as some households, including those with particular medical needs, are likely to need one.
• Returning for missed bins – the council is proposing to change the target it has for returning for missed bins from being within five working days to within three and will have a more robust performance monitoring process.
• Encouraging recycling - A reduced rate for purchasing additional silver bins would be offered so residents can have additional capacity for disposing of their recycling, which will further improve the borough's recycling performance.

Councillor Mick Warren, chair of Cheshire East Council's environment and communities committee, said: "We recognise that changing to three-weekly black bin collections is not a proposal supported by some of our residents.

"However, the proposals that will be considered by the environment and communities committee next week are a consequence of the Simpler Recycling Scheme legislation announced by the Government in October 2023, which means that all local authorities must collect food waste from their residents on a weekly basis by no later than 1 April 2026.

"This legislation will affect collections for almost all residents in Cheshire East and that means we will need to make significant and costly operational changes."

Cllr Warren added: "Financially, we have no choice but to propose a move to three-weekly black bin collections – it could reduce the expected costs of introducing weekly food waste collections from £1.75m per year to around £450,000.

"But importantly, research does show that almost all local councils that have moved to three-weekly residual waste collections have experienced an overall reduction in kerbside waste and that by making this change in Cheshire East, it could increase our recycling rates by almost 5 per cent.

"However, we have listened to the feedback from the public consultation and do understand people's concerns and want to address these where we can.

"That is why we are proposing to invest in a number of mitigation measures, including more education and enforcement officers, and will continue to actively encourage and support people to reduce, reuse and recycle their waste."

The Environment and Communities Committee is being recommended t note the outcomes of the recent public consultation exercise and approve the move to a three weekly frequency for the kerbside collection of residual waste for all properties within Cheshire East.

The expected savings of £1m per year from moving to three-weekly black bin collections are included in the council's transformation plan, as the authority looks to reduce spending by £100m over the next four years.

This changes would be implemented concurrently with the move to weekly food waste collections, agreed at the July 2024 meeting of the committee. The target date for implementation of both service changes is 1st of April 2026 in line with the new statutory duties on the Council for weekly food waste collections.