October 3, 2011 12.02 pm This story is over 155 months old

No weekly black bin collections for Lincoln

Bin collection: Lincoln will not be bidding for funding from central government collect black bins weekly.

The City of Lincoln Council will not be making domestic waste (black bin) collections weekly, despite a funding pledge from the government.

At present, bin collections in Lincoln are weekly — one week for domestic waste, and the week after for garden (for those with green bins) and recycling collections.

The government said it would free up around £250 million to help fund a weekly (black) bin collection for city councils in the UK, due to resident requests.

Communities Secretary Eric Pickles said: “Weekly rubbish collections are the most visible of all front-line services and I believe every household in England has a basic right to have their rubbish collected every week.

“Our fund will help councils deliver weekly collections and in the process make it easier for families to go green and improve the local environment.”

As well as demand, ministers also believe that the move may help stop fly tipping, littering and discourage vermin.

Councils will be able to put in a bid for their desired amount from the fund to put a weekly collection in place.

‘No intentions’

Ric Metcalfe, Leader of the City of Lincoln Council, said: “We have no intention of re-introducing weekly domestic waste collections, it is not something that our residents are demanding and we have had great success in increasing our recycling rates since we introduced alternative weekly collections.

A council survey from January indicated that 94% of city residents were happy with the way waste collection is organised.

It is estimated it would cost the City Council over £500,000 per year to reintroduce weekly collections for domestic waste.

“Our current focus is on reducing the city’s carbon footprint by rolling out green bins to more homes across the city,” Metcalfe added.

“I would hope that the £250 million could be released to local authorities, so that we can use the funds to tackle the issues that are most important to our residents, such as tackling the shortage of social housing and supporting people during the economic downturn.”

You can download a personalised collection calendar for your area to find out which bin is collected on different weeks.

Photo: Ryan Cullen