Eric Pickles is talking rubbish says Tory council

The vexed question of how often our bins should be emptied is once again being discussed in our town halls.

One man who would like to see councils provide weekly bin collections is Eric Pickles, the Communities and Local Government Secretary, who has been quoted as saying: "It's a basic right for every Englishman and woman to be able to put the remnants of their chicken tikka masala in their bin without having to wait a fortnight for it to be collected."

In recent times a growing number of local authorities have ditched weekly collections of non-recyclable waste in an attempt to cut down on the amount of rubbish sent to landfill sites.

Conservative-controlled North Kesteven District Council in Lincolnshire switched to fortnightly collections in 2004 and the authority now has one of the highest recycling rates in England.

Councillor Geoff Hazelwood, North Kesteven's Executive Board Member for Environmental Services, believes Eric Pickles has got it wrong.

The Conservative councillor said: "I think Mr Pickles is ill-informed. If we change back to weekly collections, we would be talking about half a million pounds in costs to the council when we are trying to drive down costs."

But many would disagree and argue that fortnightly collections are unhygienic - especially in the summer months - and cutting back on the number of refuse pickups is a just a money saving gimmick.

The Government won't force councils to re-introduce weekly collections, but there does appear to be growing pressure on town halls to look again at this most basic public service.

It's a subject we discussed on the latest edition of the Politics Show in Yorkshire and Lincolnshire on Sunday at 12 noon on BBC One.

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