Continued commitment to a weekly domestic refuse collection service
Released: 13 August 2007
Wolverhampton City Council has today confirmed its commitment to a weekly domestic refuse collection service following a misleading article printed on the front page of the Express and Star on Saturday, 11 August 2007.
The article began ‘Weekly bin collections in Wolverhampton may be scrapped in favour of fortnightly rounds in 2010 after a review of the service, it has been revealed.’
This causes the council real concern because the newspaper was provided with a clear statement on Thursday, 9 August 2007 regarding this matter. The article has either disregarded this statement or at best selectively interpreted it.
It appears that the Express and Star has failed to comprehend how the collection and disposal of domestic waste will evolve over the next 20 years.
Undoubtedly this will involve the reconfiguration of the waste collected for recycling against the residual waste. The latter is the waste that is not put out in recycling by residents of the City.
Currently this residual waste includes kitchen waste which is still collected weekly. Over the next 20 years it would be negligent not to consider the potential for recycling such waste.
Consequently if it were to be recycled weekly then this would reduce residual waste significantly and the capacity to collect such residual waste less than weekly should be explored to ensure value for money to residents of the City.
It is logical to undertake such on-going planning in regard to waste management and the provision of value for money services to the residents of the City.
The city council re-iterates the statement sent to the Express and Star on Thursday, August 9th, so that there is no confusion about the council’s position on maintaining a weekly domestic refuse collection service:
“The draft Municipal Waste Management Strategy does not include any proposal to cease weekly collection of domestic waste.
The council remains committed to weekly collections of domestic waste”.
This is a clear and precise statement of the city council’s intentions with regard to maintaining the current weekly domestic waste collection.
Councillor Patricia Byrne
Cabinet Member for Environment
Issued by the press office.