Brandon Lewis responds to Daily Mail claims about bin collections
Local Government Minister Brandon Lewis responds to claims in the Daily Mail about bin collections.
Brandon Lewis said:
Our Weekly Collections Support Scheme has safeguarded the weekly service of 6 million English homes and axed the last government’s policy of forcing fortnightly collections for all. We have scrapped plans for new bin taxes, are reining in unfair bin fines and have axed bin snoopers’ powers of entry into people’s homes. It is a myth that fortnightly collections are needed to save money or increase recycling, peddled by town hall bureaucrats and bin barons who don’t care about frontline services.
This is in contrast to Wales where the Welsh Government is responsible for its waste policy and has an official policy of fortnightly collections and even proposed monthly collections.
Background
To date the government has:
- safeguarded weekly collections for 6 million English households through the Weekly Collection Support Scheme
- published guidance on how weekly collections showing how weekly collections can save money and increase recycling
- removed Whitehall directives demanding fortnightly bin collections
- supported over 41 innovative reward schemes to back recycling
- abolished plans for new bin taxes
- is changing the law to scrap unfair bin fines
- is changing building regulations to tackle ‘bin blight’
- removed powers of entry and snooping powers from bin inspectors and scrapped guidance telling people to rifle through families’ bins