Bin collections every three weeks, one of the options being considered by West Berkshire Council, as it launches consultation

Could bin collections in Newbury be switching from fortnightly to every three weeks?

A consultation will be held from Monday (September 23), with changing the collection pattern one of the recommendations people will be asked for their views on.

It comes following a meeting of West Berkshire Council’s executive last night (Thursday, September 19), which saw councillors approve the public decision of the draft waste management strategy.

In the actions under review, changing waste collection frequency is one of the priorities, along with a review of the containers used by households.

There is also a desire to expand the range of items recycled from the doorstep, which would help tackle fly-tipping.

Introducing the scheme, environment and highways lead Stuart Gourley (Lib Dem, Newbury Clay Hill) said there was plenty of opportunity to still do more recycling, including expanding food waste collections as the council sought to be carbon negative by 2040.

“We are committed to expanding our kerbside recycling, we want to make it easier for residents to do the right thing,” he continued.

“Communication, education and support are going to key in continuing to improve how we perform and help all to understand more about what we can reduce, reuse and recycle.

“Waste is much, much more than just emptying and collecting our bins. This is a holistic strategy...it’s ambitious, it’s progressive and is a big step forward to improving our recycling and waste management services across West Berkshire.”

The report notes that among the identified risks there would be “some initial public resistance if the option(s) selected for implementation involve significant changes which may be deemed to inconvenience householders.

“This risk is manageable through continued stakeholder engagement, effective communications and mitigation activity as required.”

It also says that no other options were considered as “developing a new waste strategy is essential to meet legislative requirements”.

Council leader Jeff Brooks said a lot of work had gone on to improve recycling, including collecting coffee pods.

“We’re pushing the envelope all the time, the public expects us to do so and we are doing it,” he said.

Independent councillor Adrian Abbs (Newbury Wash Common) said the strategy expected members of the public to keep dividing their waste into ever-smaller amounts and place it in the correct bin.

“This doesn’t make anybody that’s not interested [in recycling] move at all,” he added, wanting to explore sorting waste at recycling centres.

Mr Gourley said this would lead to greater contamination of recycling, which in turn would affect selling it on to firms that do the recycling.

In response, Conservative leader of the opposition, Ross Mackinnon asked if collections every three weeks was the administration’s preferred route.

Mr Gourley said it was “the best practical environmental option and it is one we are planning to include in this consultation process as part of the waste strategy to allow residents to have their say on it.

“It is absolutely part of the strategy.”

He said he supported the proposal and would work with residents to help them understand the changes, and any mitigation that could be used.

Supporting him, Mr Brooks said getting as many households as possible to separate their general and food waste was “a real challenge for us”.

Later, Mr Mackinnon posted on a social media: “Looks like West Berkshire Council want to reduce black bin collections to 3 weekly instead of 2 weekly…”

Howard Woollaston (Conservative, Lambourn) said fortnightly collections meant the same vehicles would be used, but three-weekly would affect that pattern.

Mr Gourley said: “We will naturally look at our routing options to ensure the most efficient use of our resources and vehicles.”

The consultation is available on the council’s website, www.westberks.gov.uk/article/39487/Consultation-and-Engagement-Hub from Monday and will run until November. Feedback will form the final report which will be published in December.

It will come back to the executive for approval in February next year, with implementation expected to begin soon after that.