Dartford to run rubbish referendum

10 May 07
Dartford Borough Council plans to hold a local referendum to ask householders whether they want to switch from weekly to fortnightly rubbish collections, the first authority to do so.

11 May 2007

Dartford Borough Council plans to hold a local referendum to ask householders whether they want to switch from weekly to fortnightly rubbish collections, the first authority to do so.

The Kent council revealed the move amid increasing controversy over the trend, which has been adopted by four out of ten authorities in England. Fortnightly collections of general refuse are being introduced to encourage recycling, with recyclable items being collected on alternate weeks.

But some householders have complained that leaving rubbish for longer encourages vermin and causes bad smells.

Explaining the reason for the referendum, Dartford's Conservative leader, Jeremy Kite, said: 'The government is asking us to sell a policy that is quite frankly rubbish. We know fortnightly collections are unpopular, we know people don't want them so we plan to hold a referendum and present the results to the government to ask them what we should do next.'

But environment minister Ben Bradshaw has defended the policy, arguing that authorities with alternate collections have 'much higher rates of recycling'.

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