Bin policy ‘is not for turning’ (From Oxford Mail)

Bin policy ‘is not for turning’

8:00am Monday 12th March 2007

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The city councillor in charge of Oxford's controversial recycling revolution has mimicked Margaret Thatcher and insisted she is "not for turning" on the issue.

New waste collection arrangements mean household rubbish is now collected fortnightly instead of weekly.

And Jean Fooks has been under increasing pressure to scrap or modify the scheme since November. She has even faced calls for her to resign.

The executive member for a cleaner city has survived calls for a vote of no confidence from fellow councillors and pressure from residents' group Crow (Collect Refuse in Oxford Weekly).

But with shades of Mrs Thatcher's defining speech to the Conservative Party conference in 1980, Mrs Fooks stood firm in the face of public criticism.

She said: "We are not going back to weekly collections... it would be a U-turn. I am not for turning on this.

"We need to work with people to make this as convenient as possible and think 'how do we make this work' rather than think it will fail.

"There are a few authorities which have reverted to weekly collections and their recycling rates have dropp- ed.

"A number of people have gone out of their way to say 'don't give up' and that's the message from the silent majority who are getting on with it."

She insisted: "We are going to make it work - and in the end people will see this was the right thing to do."

Although Mrs Fooks dismissed a return to weekly collections of non-recyclable waste she said the city council ultimately wanted to introduce a separate collection solely for compostable food waste.

This, she claimed, would alleviate bad smells and dangers posed by rotting food.

Eric Murray, of Bridge Street, Osney Island, the co-founder of Crow, said: "Why are our elected representatives ignoring the fact this scheme is not working and gradually creating a disgusting mess all over the city?

"Surely something dramatic has to be done as soon as possible to protect our public health?"

When the scheme started, homeowners were told they would have to put out their rubbish in closed wheelie bins - or it would not be collected.

But the Mail discovered last week that households would be given three opportunities to comply before they were given a £75 fine.

The story has provoked scores of comments and a heated debate on our website, www.oxfordmail.net.

Labour city councillor John Tanner, who introduced the recycling scheme when he was environment portfolio holder, added: "Despite Jean Fooks' best efforts, I think recycling in Oxford is going to be a success."

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