A CASH-STRAPPED council has admitted money saved by swapping to fortnightly waste collections is a “main driver” for the proposal.

Slough Borough Council is one of only a handful of local authorities to still collect rubbish (grey bins) and recycling (red bins) weekly, but with the need to make gargantuan savings a year, this has forced the council to cut back its services.

Senior councillors and officers are proposing to make changes to waste collection where, if approved, residents will get their grey bins collected one week and the red bin the next from June 26, 2023.

The move would not include blocks of flats with communal bins where collections would remain weekly. The proposals include options for larger households and those with babies in nappies who may struggle not to fill their current grey bin too quickly.

READ MORE: Slough bin collections could change to fortnightly pick-ups

Speaking at a reconvened place scrutiny panel, which was adjourned following the sad death of the Queen, Cllr Mohammed Nazir (Lab: Baylis & Stoke), lead member for the local environment, said this move will increase Slough’s poor recycling rate from 28 per cent to up to 40 per cent.

This will be done by making it “less convenient” for people to throw waste away and “think about what’s going in their grey bin,” Richard West, executive director for place and community, said.

The swap will also save the council about £705,000 a year and could gain about £40,000 for charging residents needing to replace their red or grey bin.

Cllr Gurdeep S. Grewal (Lab: Upton) said Slough’s recycling rate has been low since 2009 and questioned why the council is swapping to fortnightly collections now rather than 10 years ago.

He said at Tuesday’s meeting: “The fact that we’re doing this now, and let’s be honest with the public, we’re actually doing this to save money. Nothing else.”

READ MORE: Slough bin collection swap will make town a "rats' den," readers say

Mr West said the council does aspire to increase its recycling rate but admitted “the main driver” for this change is to save the council money given it needs to save about £20m a year until 2029.

He also said the switch is a “stepping-stone” and could “evolve” into a three-weekly service depending on how well the new operation works.

Cllr Grewal said he supported the fortnightly swap but thinks the council should accept more recyclable materials, such as yoghurt pots, wallpaper, and batteries, like other authorities do, such as Ealing, to bump its recycling rate even higher.

“It’s not the residents’ fault that we can’t allow them to recycle all this extra stuff,” he said.

Mr West said this would bump Slough’s recycling rate but by only a “very small amount,” adding introducing food waste will raise the council’s target by five per cent.

Comments made at the scrutiny meeting will be forwarded to cabinet where senior councillors will make a final decision on Wednesday, September 21.