How To Have Your Say On The Tameside Council New Bin Changes

29 Jul 2021

Tameside Council is proposed changes to the bin collections as part of budget cuts. Here is how you can have your say.

Following budget proposals put forward in February to make changes to the bin collections (see here), Tameside Council has announced that they are running a consultation in respect of the proposed changes to the waste recycling services in Tameside.

The council have indicated that the main changes being proposed include introducing a charge for replacement bins of £25.63 (exemptions apply) and moving black bin (plastic bottles, glass and cans) and blue bin (paper and cardboard) recycling collections to every three weeks.

Green bin (non-recyclable waste) and brown bin (food and garden waste) will remain the same with green bins being collected fortnightly and brown bins collected weekly.

The three weekly black and blue bin collections will be trialled in three pilot areas at the same time as the wider consultation to test how well it works. Households involved in the three-month pilot will receive a letter explaining more and giving details of how they can give feedback.

It has been announced that the changes are necessary due to the continuing pressures caused by the coronavirus pandemic, increased demand for services and government cuts of almost £200 million over the last 10 years, which has left the council having to make savings of another £23 million this financial year to balance the budget for 2021-22.

The council have indicated that it is estimated that by introducing a charge for replacement/additional recycling bins, will generate/save £190k a year, while the three weekly collections can save an estimated £396k a year. Both these strategies will help safeguard vital services such as supporting vulnerable children and adults.

The proposed new policy also sets out the service standards pledged by the council to residents in collecting their waste and recycling. In return, residents are asked to reduce, reuse and recycle their waste as much as possible to do their bit to help save money and protect the environment.

Tameside Council Executive Member Cllr Allison Gwynne said: “We, like every other council in the country, are under enormous pressure to make financial savings while also delivering services that are valued the most by residents and in particular supporting and protecting vulnerable children and adults.

“The changes in policies proposed could make a huge difference for relatively little pain and this is an opportunity for everyone to get involved and positively help shape a sustainable and effective service for the future.

“We will be retaining our policy for additional bins for those households that meet the criteria and retaining the same frequency of collections for the green non-recyclable waste bin. Research tells us that the majority or the black and blue recycling bins aren’t full when collected but It is important to us to check the proposals will work and find out what people think so, as well as consulting on the wider strategy, we will be piloting the collection frequency change plans for blue and black bins and asking the specific households involved how it went so we can be sure it will work on a wider scale. We will be reporting back on the consultation and results of the pilot later in the year.”

The consultation in respect of the proposed changes is now open to allow Tameside residents to provide feedback and will run for 12 weeks until 20 October 2021.

For more information and to have your say visit www.tameside.gov.uk/wastepolicy2021.

Image credit Tameside Council