Royal Borough welcome for government weekly bins boost

The government's £250m support to bring back weekly rubbish collections has been warmly welcomed by the Royal Borough - where council commitment to weekly pick-ups has never wavered.

The new fund is being set up to help local authorities in England switch back from fortnightly to weekly collections - and launching the news, Communities and Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles praised Windsor and Maidenhead for treating residents with respect by using rewards to encourage them to recycle.

Cllr David Burbage, Council Leader, said: "This council has a commitment to weekly bin collections and that will continue.

"We have listened to our residents who tell us that weekly collections are essential, not only for picking up household waste and recycling but for preventing pests - both the animal and insect variety and also the anti-social variety who fly tip and spoil the roads and countryside for others.

"This government funding is great news for residents and councils across the country who wish to maintain or reintroduce a weekly bin collection."

Cllr Phill Bicknell, Cabinet Member for Highways, Transport and Environment, said the Royal Borough's recycling rewards scheme had been held up as an example of how to boost recycling by encouragement not force.

He said: "Since the roll out of the Recyclebank scheme across the borough there has been a marked increase in recycling rates - more than 44% of all collected waste (as at the end of July), compared to 35% the previous year. What's more, over 60% of all residents have activated their RecycleBank account - and rising.

"Feedback from our residents is extremely positive - the registration and participation figures speak for themselves - and Recyclebank is continuing to market the scheme to encourage even more households to join in and enjoy the widest possible choice of rewards for local residents.

"We are only ten months into the full roll out so we are still gathering information but evidence shows a very encouraging trend towards residents changing their behaviour and making recycling a rewarding way of life.

"In addition we are looking to roll out a weekly kitchen waste collection in April next year which will be the final piece in our recycling jigsaw."

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