Householders have been sent a glossy leaflet telling us from this summer Wokingham Borough Council are going to cancel weekly household rubbish collections and go over to fortnightly.
They are scrapping the blue bags and spending money on black bins for everyone. Recycling from the green bags will also be downgraded from weekly to fortnightly. However, they still need to go to every house every week and offer a weekly collection of the food waste.
Why go to all this trouble and cost? It is unlikely there will be any savings as they still have to get round every house every week. It will be frustrating for householders to see the waste service arrive and leave but not be able to get either recycling or household waste removed that week. This looks like another case of paying them more for a worse service, something this Council specialises in. They should try listening to what residents want, and should drop unpopular ideas.
March 16, 2024
When I questioned a councilor about this, I was told it was a “Department for Leveling Up,
Housing & Communities” thing, perhaps someone should have a word with Michael Gove. Not that I believe a lot in what I am being told. I think they just try and blame anybody but themselves, about their mad decisions (Like the cycle path madness).
March 16, 2024
I just did a search on this, and it looks to me as if it’s the “Department for Environment Food & Rural Affairs” as the department who through statutory guidance, set the weekly food waste collection and requiring local authorities to collect residual (non-recyclable) waste at least fortnightly. Note “at least”, so of course the council is going to do the bare minimum !!. Just like we know our council tax will go up by the maximum allowed without a vote.
March 16, 2024
They just love spending our money. Shopping addiction at a new level.
March 17, 2024
What I find incredible about WBC is the lack of consideration for older residents. This new glossy brochure has lots of bar codes which those who do not have a smart phone, including myself, cannot access. There is NO telephone number for help – and what is the alternative to wheelie bins if you have assisted collection. What do you do if you have a large family and one wheelie bag isn’t enough? Where are you to store all the green bags? This worsening service comes at a time when our Council Tax has risen by £500, garden waste collection by £22 and NO service or benefit for us. This also comes at a time when fly tipping is more frequent – what can the average person do?
March 17, 2024
Collecting food waste is a sign of careless people buying and wasting too much. Excessive packaging generates excessive waste. Brands should be penalised to stop their excesses at source. Fortnightly collections should be adequate for recycled and household rubbish. However, a Council that collects bins of food and leaves other waste behind is plain daft and wasteful in itself.
March 17, 2024
More irrationality from the libdems – they really don’t know what to do to make people love them – they borrow every last failed socialist policy and corrupt it. They try to make it look like they are doing something good – anything to create an effect.
I wouldn’t say the libdem movement is lost – it simply has less than nothing to offer. It is a failed party that doesn’t understand that people’s lives matter, and people are tired of being the effect of stupidity.
March 17, 2024
I am all for sensible recycling, that is why we fill on average one green bag a week.
We waste little food, so the one small container is good enough for the two of us for a week.
The blue bag rubbish consists mainly of lightweight cellophane wrapping, and is usually about a quarter full at the most.
Quite why we need a wheely bin for the small amount of light weight (non recyclable) cellophane waste is beyond me.
We are fortunate in that we have a big drive to keep the wheely bin hidden out of sight, and a garage to store the re-cycling bags/bins dry, but so many properties do not have that luxury.
The street scape is going to look like a dump.!
If anything I would of thought a wheely bin would be more useful for the higher volume re-cycling waste, rather than the lower volume, lightweight cellophane waste.
Yes we need a weekly collection of food waste, as that is based on the life cycle of fly reproduction, so surely it makes sense to me, to collect all rubbish at the same time on a weekly basis.
If you are away on holiday and depending on collection days, it could be a month before some of your rubbish is collected.
March 17, 2024
There is a claim (letters) in the local paper this week Sir John that the £10M loan to (bankrupt) Woking Council has in turn been financed by a loan from another council that will come due for repayment in June this year. It is also claimed that although Wokingham received £323k interest payment from Woking for their loan, it is paying £420k interest plus charges for it’s own loan – In other words a £100k loss on the arrangement !
Is this true and if so who authorised such an expensive and unneccessary transaction?
And why wasn’t it plastered all over the front page instead of being buried in the ‘letters’ section?
Reply Good questions for Councillors