Refuse revamp may mean more bins

6:20am Tuesday 11th November 2008

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Households in Oxford could have to find room for three wheelie bins as part of changes to waste collections.

The city council is also considering charging for the collection of bulky white goods such as washing machines, while new brown bins could be rented to residents as part of the planned fortnightly food waste collection scheme.

The council is currently consulting members of its Talkback panel — a small group of residents to whom new ideas are floated — before a wider consultation is planned.

One idea is to get rid of the green sack in which garden waste is deposited and replace it with a brown wheelie bin, where food waste could also be dumped.

But the service could cost homeowners as much as £35 a year And it would mean some houses having to find room for as many as three wheelie bins — one green, one blue and one brown.

At present, households can have two blue recycling boxes (for plastic bottles, tins and cardboard), two green boxes (for glass and paper), a wheelie bin (for non-recyclable waste) and a free garden waste sack.

However, residents can also buy a blue wheelie bin to replace their blue boxes.

The council is also looking at charging between £10 and £20 for the collection of bulky waste items.

At the moment, households can have three bulky items, like fridges, taken away for free.

A charge was previously introduced for bulky waste by the Liberal Democrat administration in 2000, but the Labour group reversed the policy two years later, claiming it led to an increase in fly-tipping.

John Tanner, the council's executive member for a cleaner, greener city, said: “One of the options is we collect food waste and garden waste in a brown wheelie bin, which lots of other districts do at the moment.

“My priority is to send less waste to landfill and make it easier for people to do that. Labour is very much committed to free collection of bulky items because it works, but it costs a lot.

“We are looking at what the public reaction would be if we charged for it.

”It’s no secret that the council is strapped for cash so we’re looking at every possibility, including charging. We have an open mind. It’s not a proposal.”

A vote on the changes is set to take place at the city’s executive board meeting in January and if agreed, changes could be implemented in October next year.

But Liberal Democrat group leader David Rundle said: “Labour may claim these are only suggestions, which they don't want to do, but that raises the question of why waste money mooting them in the first place?

“They should be looking at what they can save in the back-office, rather than cutting front-line services.

“The Tories charge you to park your car in front of your house — and now Labour wants to charge you for having a garden — and an old sofa.”