Bracknell Forest green bin changes petition reaches target

Linsie Keen, an IT Project Analyst from Warfield, set up the campaign after Bracknell Forest Council (BFC) announced in January it would be collecting non-recycling waste every three weeks — instead of every fortnight — in order to offset the cost of its new weekly food waste collection when the service is rolled out in October.

(Linsie Keen — image via Linsie Keen)

Since then, more than 2,600 people have signed the petition, which calls for a public consultation on the proposed bin changes.

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But Linsie said she wants more people to add their names to the list.

She told the News: “I am actually pretty disappointed about the amount of people that have signed the petition.

“There are quite a few discussions going on about this, but not many people have signed the petition.”

BFC says 42 per cent of the contents of the average household green refuse bin is food or food-related items such as eggshells, bones and tea bags.

Bosses at the authority have suggested food waste collections will, therefore, reduce the amount of waste in green bins, meaning a less regular service is needed.

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But residents who have signed the petition left comments outlining their worries about smells from nappies and sanitary pads becoming worse over the summer months next year after the three-weekly collection is introduced.

This is also a cause for concern for Linsie, but she told the News the lack of consultation is the most pressing issue for her.

She said: “The biggest issue is that we pay our council tax, so they work for the residents of Bracknell, but they don’t listen to us, and they don’t ask our opinions about something as big as this.”

After the News reported the opposition growing against the three-weekly green bin collection plans, Bracknell Forest Council director Kevin Gibbs said: “Any petition submitted is given due consideration in line with the correct democratic process”.

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Linsie hopes her petition will reach 5,000 signatures before she submits it at the end of next week, but Mr Gibbs said BFC “understands” some members of the community are “apprehensive” about the changes.

Despite this, the IT analyst has not heard from the council in response to her petition.

She added: “I contacted the council the day the Bracknell News broke the story.

“I called to ask them questions — the main one being why was there no consultation, and I was told that they would have to take my details and someone would contact me within three days — I’m still waiting for that call.”

Readers can view the petition here.

Kevin Gibbs, Executive Director, Delivery at BFC, said: “We can confirm we were contacted by Mrs Keen and apologise for the delay in coming back to her to address her concerns; we have now responded to her.”

“Food waste collection is needed in Bracknell Forest, as part of our commitment to help tackle the international climate change crisis.

"This includes encouraging and enabling more recycling, which with food waste collection could increase to a target of around 65 per cent by 2030.

“The cost of waste services will not increase with the changes.

"However, if we simply add food waste recycling to our current service it would cost taxpayers around £2.3m over the next seven years.

"By changing the refuse collection to three weekly, the cost of introducing weekly food waste collections is offset.

"Putting rubbish into landfill not only wastes money, it also contributes to air pollution and to the long-term effects of climate change.

“Instead of going to landfill, food waste will be put to good use as a result of the changes; it will be recycled into a liquid fertiliser used for farming and the recycling process releases methane which is captured to create electricity.

“We are confident that the changes will help residents dramatically reduce their carbon footprint and help to make a difference in the face of climate change.

“We understand some of our residents may be apprehensive about the changes and we welcome their feedback. This is why we are running a series of engagement events to reassure anyone who is concerned and answer any questions they may have.”