Changes to make most of Kingston's recycling collections fortnightly have been approved, despite fierce resistance from many households and councillors.
The new collection rota will begin in January 2016.
One small alteration is bound to win approval: those little green food recycling bags, easy to overfill and difficult to tie up, will now come with handles. But that small change is unlikely to fully appease opponents of the Conservative plan, voted through last Thursday, to save £4.2m over seven years by cutting back on collections.
Councillor Hilary Gander, Liberal Democrat lead member for the environment, said fewer collections would inconvenience residents and mean more waste going into landfill. Last year it was revealed half of waste Kingston residents put into landfill bins could have been recycled instead.
Some savings will come from keeping paper and cardboard dry in wheelie bins, meaning more of it can be sold for recycling rather than dumped in landfill, he added. He also revealed the health and safety officers were unhappy with how recycling is currently transferred from your front door to rubbish trucks. Under the new system, bin men will no longer carry each box individually and empty its contents. Instead they will empty them into a single bin, to be loaded in one go. Coun Cunningham also denied claims by MP Edward Davey that no consultation on the changes had taken place. About 800 people were contacted by phone for a survey conducted by a consultation agency, he said.
Coun Cunningham said he would spend the intervening time explaining to residents how the plan will work.
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