Councillor accuses council of 'hoodwinking' residents over recycling

Date published: 27 November 2007

Labour Councillor Susan Emmott says she is "saddened that Rochdale has a poor recycling rate" and calls for the provision of better equipment to help residents recycle more to help the situation. However, Councillor Emmott is adamant that fortnightly bin collections are not the answer, accusing the council of using fortnightly bin collections to "hoodwink residents into thinking that they are the only way to improve recycling rates".

Councillor Emmott explains: "It is true that recycling rates have improved where the Council has imposed fortnightly collections, but the real reason why rates have improved is because in those areas all residents have been given the tools to recycle with. Residents have received different bins for different types of waste and it is the separation of waste that has made the difference to recycling rates there, not the timing of the collections. The household waste that ends up in landfill will still end up in landfill whether it is collected weekly or fortnightly. It doesn’t just disappear into thin air simply because it is collected fortnightly.

"Rochdale Council has been very shrewd in the way it has introduced fortnightly collections by giving residents the appropriate containers to put different types of waste in, at the same time as introducing the fortnightly collections, and then erroneously claiming it is the fortnightly collections that have made the difference. The provision of the different bins and bags is the only reason recycling has increased in those areas with fortnightly collections. This is a question that Councillor Wera Hobhouse has either been unable or unwilling to answer. Whenever this argument is put to her, she simply trots out the mantra of improved recycling figures without actually addressing the question.

"Fortnightly bin collections do not improve recycling, only the provision of better recycling equipment improves recycling rates. Fortnightly collections are a sleight of hand designed to give residents a poorer service for their Council Tax."