South Gloucestershire Council considering changes to bin collections

South Gloucestershire Council says changes are needed as its current waste contract ends in 2025

A council has announced controversial waste plans which could see black bin collections reduced to once a month.

South Gloucestershire Council, run by a Liberal Democrat/Labour coalition, has also proposed to hike garden waste fees from £30 to as much as £75.

The plans include new charges for certain types of waste, such as tyres and plasterboards at the district's tips.

Opposition Conservatives called the proposals "crazy and irresponsible".

However, the coalition running the council said the criticism was "astonishing and cynical", saying that work on a new waste contract was largely done by the previous Conservative administration.

The council says the service changes are needed because its 25-year Private Finance Initiative (PFI) with Suez ends in July 2025.

Officers have assessed four options to replace it but every one has a large funding shortfall, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

The cheapest costs £330m over 10 years and would see bin collections outsourced to a private operator, with recycling centres brought back in-house.

The loss of a £3.1m annual grant from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) would also leave the council having to find an extra £4.7m a year to run the service.

Cabinet members are being asked on 19 June to approve the general idea of how the new service will look, ahead of a public consultation.

Saving money

A cross-party scrutiny meeting on 14 June heard that moving to three-weekly black bin collections would save £500,000 a year, while four-weekly would recoup a further £300,000.

Charges for disposing of "hardcore" waste at tips would bring in £500,000, while higher fees for collecting bulky waste would add to the current £190,000 the authority receives for the service.

An increase to the garden waste subscription from £30 to £50 could bring in an extra £800,000 a year.

Conservative shadow cabinet member for communities, councillor Rachael Hunt, said she is concerned about the proposals.

"We have an excellent record of prosecuting people for fly-tipping," said Ms Hunt.

"These crazy and irresponsible proposals could see that record seriously jeopardised as people try to avoid charges and deal with the accumulation of rubbish they'll see when their bins aren't emptied as regularly," she added.

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