So Greene Goes Residential

Slough Council have recently reduced their residents once-weekly dual waste collections to alternating general waste and recycling collections, following in the footsteps of most other local authorities. Their argument is that they will save about 705,000 a year by not providing weekly waste collections of both general waste and recycling. However, it is clear from a recent petition to reinstate dual weekly collections that the residents feel this money was being spent wisely.

The Council believe that reducing the collections will also encourage recycling, as residents are encouraged to make proper use of both wheelie bins. The Leader of the Council has also suggested that Slough residents should use this as an opportunity to consider reducing single-use plastics, reusing materials, giving clothes to charity or selling them online.

Whilst these are great ideas to encourage, is reducing their recycling collections the best way to do this? It could be argued that this reduction in the service will actually lead to more contamination of recycling, as households seek to dispose of general waste more frequently than the fortnightly collections offered.

The issue of contaminated recycling is just one to note. The petition from the residents mentions problems surrounding hygiene and the likelihood of pests, fly tipping, odour control and the worry of an unattractive environment. The petition particularly highlights the likelihood of illegal dumping and states that in a region where fortnightly collections were implemented, there was a 15% rise in illegal dumping incidents within the first six months. It is also states that according to a study, communities that switched from weekly to fortnightly collections experienced a 23% increase in fly infestations compared to those with weekly collections.

Despite the uproar from citizens and the efforts of the petition, there seems to be no plans to reinstate weekly collections. With this in mind, So Greene have branched out from commercial collections and are now offering residents pick-ups as often as they require them on a no-contract or commitment basis.

Here at So-Greene we aim to make waste the least of your worries and with environmental stewardship at the core of everything we do, we wanted to ensure that the residents felt they had access to an affordable service to complement their council collections, to keep their area safe and clean.

If you feel that additional waste collections are something you could benefit from or you simply want to find out more, please do not hesitate to get in contact with So Greene today.