♻️💷 Fortnightly blue-bin collections: welcome return

♻️💷 Fortnightly blue-bin collections: welcome return, but questions still need answering ♻️💷

Councillor Jess Meller - Edgeley Community Association was at Scrutiny Committee this week holding the Administration to account over the sudden decision to reintroduce fortnightly blue-bin collections.

We wanted answers to the what, why and how of the policy change announced last week.

Let’s be clear: we welcome the return of fortnightly collections. However we made clear in 2024 that the decision to move away from fortnightly collections in the first place was lunacy particularly when family households were already struggling with the capacity of a fortnightly blue bin service, while companies are increasingly moving towards paper and cardboard packaging.

Residents aren’t daft — and neither are we. The explanation being put forward by Liberal Democrat councillors this week is that this represents an upgrade to the service. That doesn’t seem to stack up with the timing.

The sudden U-turn appears much more closely connected to the communications fiasco around telling residents to keep their blue-bin lids closed to conceal the problems with the new arrangements. We warned previously that these decisions would come back to haunt the Liberal Democrat Administration. You cannot mess about with the bins and that was the main reason we could not support their 2024 budget.

There are also important questions about the money.

Reinstating a service that was previously provided is not cost-free. The cost of reinstating fortnightly collections will be greater than the cost of maintaining the service in the first place.

It also appears that funding is being drawn from healthier than expected green-bin permit charge revenue. As was rightly pointed out at Scrutiny, that raises a fundamental fairness issue: are residents effectively paying twice for the same service?

And what happens next year given this is an in year change?

Stockport Council still faces cuts running into the p