03 August 2007
There are huge regional differences between residents' attitudes towards reform of their local waste collection services and also the recycling schemes offered by councils, a national survey has revealed.
The Institute of Public Finance survey of 1,177 UK householders found that, although just one in five people nationally supported 'pay as you throw' policies, up to a third of the population in Yorkshire and the Humber and the West Midlands said they would accept such a move. The proposal was much more unpopular in Greater London and the Northeast, however, where just 11% of respondents expressed support. The survey found equally wide variations in support for fortnightly bin collections.
The findings come as councils face conflicting pressures. The Audit Commission has made it clear that its forthcoming Comprehensive Area Assessments will highlight council efforts to 'green' both their local communities and corporate services. Almost 200 councils have already switched to fortnightly bin collections in an attempt to stimulate recycling, but new guidance issued by the Waste and Resources Action Programme suggests that food waste collections should continue on a weekly basis.
In response, Paul Bettison, chair of the Local Government Association's environment board, said: 'Many councils would like to introduce separate collections of food waste on a weekly basis if government, not the council tax payer, were prepared to foot the bill. Local government would need extra money to pay for this, on top of the 10% annual increase it already needs to meet the escalating costs of landfill tax and European Union laws.'
Nationally, half of the respondents to the IPF survey said they would simply 'complain to the council' if their authority moved to fortnightly collections. One quarter said they would consider increasing the amount they recycled.
But there were very wide regional differences in the ways people said they would respond to such a move. In the Southwest, more than a third said it would cause them to consider recycling more, but in the West Midlands only 12% of residents felt the same way, while 20% said they would 'find somewhere else to dispose [of their rubbish]'.
Nationally, 14% of respondents gave the same response. IPF acknowledged that a proportion of those could innocently intend to increase their use of local recycling centres but warned: 'There is concern that this could result in increased fly-tipping… in the worst case scenario it could add a further 14% to the current bill of £50m spent clearing up after fly-tippers.'
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