The district will not be having wheelie bins ‘in the immediate future’ the leader of South Holland District Council has said.
As new routes for collecting waste were rolled out this week, the matter of whether it could happen was raised at the authority’s Full Council.
Coun Nick Worth stated there were no plans for introducing wheelie bins while highlighting a level of uncertainty over what might be imposed on the authority by central government.
“We do black bags and green bags (in South Holland). That’s not going to change in the immediate future,” he told the council. “I’m making that clear.
“Rishi Sunak recently rode back on different waste collections, which I think is a relief for most councils in the country.
“The government is still talking about a separate food waste scheme in 2025 and I would like to suggest that’s a good time to look at things.
“If we have to do that, and it’s still not sure we are, depending on what receptacle they say we have to collect it in may make us have to look at alternative solutions.
“We’re not there at this moment.”
Previous leader Lord Gary Porter had vowed wheelie bins would never come in while he was leading the council. He was voted out in May’s election.
Leader of the opposition Coun Rob Gibson initially raised the issue saying he felt public opinion was “50/50”.
Coun Aaron Spencer called for a task group to be formed to look at the best way for waste collection.
“I don’t like walking down the street on bin day and there’s rubbish all over,” he said. “It’s like a third world country sometimes and does encourage fly-tipping.
“I think we need to draw a line under it and instead of asking what people feel, do the work properly and form a task group to put to bed the issue. It needs to explain why we do what we do and look at if there is a better way of working.”
Coun Worth responded he was ‘on the council, not on the fence’ and also stated: “We are having discussions informally with our partner councils and seeing how we can work together, not just on waste but on a range of different services in a bid to make all three councils more efficient.”
* Coun Jack Tyrrell, the council’s portfolio holder for Environmental Services, was grilled about the rolling out of new waste collection routes and admitted there had been ‘teething problems’ and that it could take ‘four weeks to bed in’.
“It’s all being done for a very good reason. It hasn’t been done for years and needed to be done.
“Bear with it. We know there are some teething problems and there may be some issues for two or three weeks.”
On Tuesday SHDC said ten streets in Holbeach had not had their waste collected as it should have been.
A spokesman said: “The crews are getting used to the new routes, just as residents are… please bear with us! We apologise for any inconvenience caused.”
