Changes to bin collections are being proposed to help plug a £25m financial hole in council finances.

A public consultation has been launched by Wokingham Borough Council to seek residents’ views on potential changes to the frequency of its rubbish and recycling collections. 

The council wants to keep weekly food waste collections but move away from having general rubbish and recycling bins collected weekly, due to “unprecedented financial pressures, new government legislation and [their] climate emergency goals”. 

Council leader Clive Jones has blamed a “reduction in government funding” and rising costs of “providing basic services”. 

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“If we continue collections as they are now, an additional £500,000 per year would be needed on top of the £5m waste service budget. If we make the changes, we could save up to £1.8 million per year, depending on which option we choose,” he said. 

The consultation, which runs until December 5, is available on the council’s engagement webpage. 

With inflation at a 40-year high and energy bills soaring, the council must make savings of £25m over the next three years in order to continue delivering essential public services at the current level. 

If the proposed waste collection changes are introduced in 2026, as one option details, the council claims it could save up to £1.8m. If the changes were implemented sooner, it could save £700,000 per year right away on top of the 1.8m figure from 2026 onwards.  

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Cllr Jones said he would “rather see […] general rubbish collected less frequently” than for the council to not be able to deliver essential services for residents.  

“We are for the most part a wealthy borough, but this cost-of-living crisis is going to hit many of us hard and we need to make savings wherever we can […]”. 

The council says it is “committed” to increasing its recycling rate from 54 per cent to 70 per cent by 2030 and claims the experience of other council’s show that “changing from weekly to fortnightly or three-weekly general rubbish collections” will help.    

Earlier this year, the council found that 57 per cent of blue bag rubbish could have been recycled. It costs £100 per tonne to dispose of and less than £50 per tonne to recycle. 

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In 2021, the council disposed of 25,300 tonnes of rubbish, meaning residents threw away 14,421 tonnes of recyclable materials at a cost of £720,000 to taxpayers. 

Executive member for environment, sport and leisure, Cllr Ian Shenton, said making the changes to waste collection makes “financial sense”, as well as being “the right thing to do” for the environment. 

“I know that our waste collections impact every single resident in the borough, so we want to hear from as many of you as possible,” he added.