Labour Council leader Gavin Callaghan confirmed that work is underway to bring black weekly collections for black bin and reusable blue and white canvas sacks for recycling will be scrapped.
Dumped – There have been ongoing issues with waste collection in the borough (Image: Ben Shahrabi) The announcement was made ahead of upcoming 25/26 draft budget and overhauling the waste system is set to cost in the region of £1.9million.
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Despite the additional investment, Mr Callaghan claims the waste scheme launched by the previous Tory administration last November is currently costing £2.3million a year.
As things stand, black wheelie bins are collected fortnightly as well as a multiple canvas sacks used for recycling.
Ambitious – The announcement was made by Labour’s leader of Basildon Council, Gavin Callaghan (Image: Gavin Callaghan) “The biggest investment that we are making in this budget is that we are spending £1.9 million on bringing back weekly black bin collections and scrapping the blue and white sacks,” said Mr Callaghan.
“We were elected in May with a manifesto promise to do this, and despite being told consistently by the opposition that it is impossible to do, in this budget we will be doing exactly that.
“Incidentally, doing this is cheaper than the current system, which is a fortnightly service that also includes those horrendous sacks.
“In it’s current form, the system costs around £2.3 million to deliver, whereas this new service is costing £1.9 million and by the time we sit here in a year’s time, I expect it to be even cheaper than that.”
In November 2023, Basildon Council’s Conservative administration introduced a new waste scheme designed to improve the borough’s poor recycling rates, that required residents to split rubbish into multiple sections.
Dire – Residents have reported bin bags piling up around Basildon (Image: Ben Shahrabi) Since coming into effect, the system has received widespread criticism from residents who claim it has resulted in piles of uncollected waste being left around on pavements.
The decision to bring back weekly bin collections and disposable recycling bags comes after a “record-breaking” consultation that saw 8,000 responses from frustrated residents.