Plan to move bin collection to three weekly rounds dropped

People have raised fears that less frequent bin rounds will lead to more fly tipping, vermin and smells

Wrexham Council bosses have dropped plans for three-weekly bin collections.

It comes despite a report to councillors which argued strongly in favour of moving away from the current fortnightly service for black bins.

The report warned members that failing to switch to less frequent collections could cost the council more than £800,000, including a £500,000 fine for not meeting recycling targets.

Council leaders said they would look at other ways of boosting recycling.

Local authorities across the UK have been reducing the frequency of bin collections to save money and to encourage recycling.

Wrexham Council said it would also help reduce carbon emissions after it recently declared a climate emergency, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

However, public consultation on the idea of three-weekly bin collections in 2018 revealed concerns about an increase in fly-tipping, vermin and bad smells, especially in the summer.

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Council leaders told an environmental scrutiny committee meeting on Wednesday that the idea was likely to be dropped, after the Welsh Government promised an above-inflation 3.5% increase in central funding.

Councillor David A Bithell, lead member for environment and transport, said: "What we do need to do is to consider the long-term aspirations of reaching our statutory target of 70% [of waste being recycled] by 2025."

Wrexham is currently recycling just under 66% of waste.

Liberal Democrat group leader Alun Jenkins welcomed the change of heart, asking whether a public awareness campaign could boost recycling rates.

But Labour councillor Graham Rogers warned against revisiting the idea of three-weekly collections in future.

"It's not happening this year but guaranteed it will be on the agenda for next year, so I'd like to make my position quite clear," he said.

"I will not support three-weekly collections, it's as simple as that."

Councillors voted to set up a taskforce to consider how the recycling target can be met.