Households face having to wait weeks longer to have their bins emptied after Labour quietly abandoned plans to require fortnightly collections.
Earlier this year the Conservative government pledged to make sure that black bag waste is collected at least every other week from homes across England.
It intended to produce statutory guidance that would require councils to ‘provide a minimum standard of a fortnightly collection for residual waste’ in order to ‘avoid malodour and attracting vermin’.
But the rule was not introduced before the election and now Labour has ditched it, in an update slipped out last Friday when Parliament was gripped by the landmark vote on assisted suicide.
New guidance on waste collection service published by the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) simply states that ‘waste collection authorities should continue to decide collection frequency and methodology for collecting the residual (non-recyclable waste)’.
It makes no reference to fortnightly collections, although it adds: ‘Waste collection authorities should continue to monitor any changes to collection frequencies to make sure there are no unintended consequences.’
Last night the Tories warned that Labour has now given the green light for bin collections to take place every three weeks or even just monthly.
It comes as residents face council tax hikes of £110 next year after town halls were allowed to increase rates by 5 per cent again.
Labour has quietly dropped plans to require councils to pick up household bins at least fortnightly (file photo)
Defra minister Mary Creagh (pictured) refused to say directly whether councils would be asked to collect bins every two weeks
Shadow Defra minister Dr Neil Hudson told the Mail: ‘Labour has tried to sneak in this massive change to bin collections which could leave rubbish piling up on the streets over Christmas.
‘This is an important issue for millions of people around the country. Keir Starmer claims he wants to fix the foundations, whilst giving carte blanche to councils to hike up taxes at the same time as cutting vital services. It is only Conservative-led councils that truly deliver efficient services like this while keeping council tax low.
‘Keir Starmer’s Labour need to bin only one thing, and that’s this ridiculous change.’
In Parliament this week, Tory MP David Simmonds asked Defra minister Mary Creagh if it is ‘her policy that the minimum residual frequency for household waste collections should be two weeks’.
She did not answer his question directly but said: ‘Simpler Recycling will mean that people across England will be able to recycle the same materials at home, work or school, ending the confusion over what can or cannot be recycled in different parts of the country.’
Many town halls in Labour-run Wales are already planning to switch to less frequent collections to save money.
Research by the Conservatives has found that the majority of town halls in Labour-run Wales now collect black sacks less than fortnightly, prompting fears that many in England will now follow suit.
Of the 22 Welsh councils, only nine still have fortnightly collections and two of those are also planning to switch.
Another 11 do three-weekly collections and two monthly: Conwy and Denbighshire.
Last week new Welsh Tory leader Darren Millar told the Senedd that in Denbighshire ‘they’ve seen rubbish piling up like the 1970s winter of discontent’.
Residents have told the BBC how they have to drive to the tip to get rid of waste that exceeds the three bag limit, and complained of rats and maggots as rubbish piles up.
Bristol City Council, which is led by the Green Party, is also planning to cut black bin collections from fortnightly to once every four weeks.
Senior Tory MP Alicia Kearns is campaigning against a move by Rutland County Council – run by a Lib Dem/Green administration – to switch to three-weekly collections.
She said this week: ‘This is the wrong cut to make and it would be extraordinary to move to a three week collection of residual waste such as nappies and sanitary products.’
New guidance on waste collection service published by the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) says that councils should continue to decide the methodology and frequency of non-recyclable waste collections (file photo)
However the abandonment of the fortnightly requirement has been welcomed by an umbrella group for councils that collect rubbish.
The National Association of Waste Disposal Officers (NAWDO) said: ‘The revision of language on residual waste services is a positive move from government, as previous insistence on at least fortnightly collections was completely at odds with wider policies such as packaging EPR and Net Zero.’
The Government insists that food waste will be collected from households weekly under its new plan for ‘Simpler Recycling’, which also ended the prospect of all homes having to have seven bins.
Labour sources also pointed out that the Tories did not introduce their promised fortnightly collection requirement.
