A decision to stop supplying households with free food bags has sparked a heated debate, as councillors on each side locked horns over the issue. 

Last night (October 24), Cllr Norman Jorgensen told Wokingham Borough Council’s overview and scrutiny management committee that ceasing the supply would “act as a barrier” to food waste recycling and “adversely impact” the current levels. 

Leader of the council Cllr Jones said it is best “not to burn five million pieces of plastic”, suggesting that, whilst the volume of recycling could “dip slightly”, it will come back because “people want to recycle”. 

In July, Wokingham Borough Council agreed to stop supplying residents with food bin caddy liners.   

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The benefits of doing so were outlined as financial – by saving procurement costs of £120,000 a year  – as well as environmental by reducing the use of non-recyclable single-use plastics. 

Cllr N. Jorgensen, alongside four other non-executive Conservative members of the council, challenged the decision by raising a ‘call-in’ – a method to scrutinise decisions believed to go against the local authority’s decision-making principles.  

The group believe the council is in breach of two principles, that the decision made was not proportional to the desired outcome and the proper consultation process was not followed. 

By increasing recycling, the council targets savings of £350,000 but Cllr N. Jorgensen claimed that “would not be achieved” by cutting supply of the bin liners. He argued that the goal of increasing food recycling by 70 per cent would be put “in jeopardy” by the plan. 

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“Some of the people currently recycling threaten not to do so,” he said. 

Cllr David Cornish asked him how big a threat to revenue generation the decision would likely be. Cllr N. Jorgensen said he “wouldn’t like to put a value on it” but claimed there would be a “significant risk” of revenue loss. 

Cllr Cornish hit back, expressing “surprise” that he hadn’t “come up with some numbers” to quantify it despite basing the call-in on the perceived financial risk. 

“It also needs to be offset by the £100,000 saved by not spending it on the caddy liners,” he added. 

The wording of the call-in’s written statement referred to the initial decision being made by a “Lib Dem-Labour coalition executive”, which was challenged by Cllr Andy Croy who pointed to the lack of Labour members on the executive. 

Cllr Croy asked whether Cllr N. Jorgensen “understood what an executive is” to ascertain whether it was his “integrity” or his “ability to understand very simply facts” that was on the line. 

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Cllr N. Jorgensen conceded that there are “no Labour members on the executive”, prompting Cllr Croy to suggest bringing the issue in front of the committee was “personal”. 

“I don’t think there are good grounds for the call-in and I think you’ve rather given the game away in the written statement,” he added. 

However, Cllr Pauline Jorgensen said Labour is a “fundamental part of propping up the executive that made the decision”.  

Despite the opposition, a motion to confirm the original executive decision was passed meaning the supply of free caddy bags will cease from 2023.