Bristol City Council to change black bin collection from fortnightly to every four weeks

Bristol City Council plans to reduce black bin collection to monthly, leaked documents have revealed.

While bins were previously collected fortnightly, Bristol City Council plans to collect them once every four weeks as part of its efforts to make savings amid rising waste service costs.

This change would make Bristol one of the first cities in Britain to do so. It would only apply to households, not to businesses or flats with communal collection systems.

Bristol students would be impacted by the change in frequency, with student houses tending to have numerous tenants and already struggling with waste disposal.

The decision has been justified by the need to save money on waste service costs, as well as encourage higher recycling rates, the BBC reports.

Bristol residents have been frustrated by this decision. They do not believe the savings outweigh the risk of smellier streets and increased fly-tipping.

Many believe that it is unfair that despite increasingly unaffordable council tax, they are losing a service. Council tax is expected to rise by £100 a year, according to the Times. 

Families have shared that the priorities should lay in verbal emphasis on recycling and effective education.

This information came from a leaked document that the Local Democracy Reporting Service obtained. This is a public service news agency funded by the BBC.

It reads: “Through changes in regulation and increased operational, inflation and investment costs, our waste and recycling service is facing an additional bill of £5 million to £9 million per year.

“Without cost reductions we may need to reduce services and performance standards.

“This amount will be reduced if we can recycle more and waste less”

Bristol councillor Martin Fodor, Chair of the Environment and Sustainability Policy Committee, has emphasised the environmental motives behind the move.

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He said: “The council faces a significant challenge to ensure that our city wastes less and recycles and reuses more if we are to build a cleaner more sustainable Bristol.

“All options remain draft proposals at this stage and no decisions have been taken and no decision will be taken on significant changes to the future of waste and recycling services in our city without consulting with residents and engaging with businesses first.”

Householders were due to be consulted on their thoughts on this decision through a consultation beginning today (18th November), although this is yet to be confirmed.