Council starts three-weekly black bin collections

Black bins will be collected every three weeks in West Berkshire

A council has begun to collect non-recyclable waste every three weeks instead of fortnightly.

West Berkshire Council said it wanted to drive up recycling and reduce waste in its area, which includes the towns of Hungerford, Newbury and Thatcham.

More than 1,600 people signed an online protest petition, but a greater number told the council they could cope or sometimes cope with the change.

Several English council areas already have three-weekly collections, including Bracknell Forest, north and east Hertfordshire and Warwick.

Alex Hollis said the government should act to reduce waste at source

Alex Hollis, who works from home in Burghfield Common, said he was concerned about the change.

The father of two said: "We're a household of four. We generate a decent amount of waste.

"I don't know a single person who is happy that we're moving to a lesser collection.

"We don't necessarily have the time to sort through our rubbish.

"I would rather look at initiatives to... reduce the waste we generate rather than ask us to do more sorting."

Councillor Stuart Gourley said the aim was to reduce waste and improve recycling

Councillor Stuart Gourley, in charge of environmental issues at the authority, acknowledged that a public consultation produced a mixed response.

More than 5,000 residents gave their views and 52% thought they could "cope or sometimes cope" with three-weekly collections, he said.

He said the area had capacity to improve, with 42% of waste wrongly put in non-recycling bins.

"We're in the top 10% worst local authority areas for the amount of household waste produced per person," he said.

"We're seeing some new government legislation coming in 2027/28 and if we carry on doing what we're doing now, we could end up with an extra £1.4m bill to pay."

The council has approved more than 400 requests for bigger non-recycling bins so far this year, more than in the whole of the previous year, he added.

Under the new initiative, food waste will be collected weekly, recycling will be collected fortnightly and black bins every three weeks.

The change does not apply to blocks of flats with communal bins, which will remain on a fortnightly collection cycle.