SWAPPING to fortnightly bin collections has taken one step closer to fruition after senior councillors agreed on the changes.

The council is proposing to scrap weekly bin collections and introduce an alternate service in order to save about £705,000 a year and encourage more Slough residents to recycle.

Slough Borough Council is one of only a handful of local authorities to still collect rubbish (grey bins) and recycling (red bins) weekly. It also has one of the worst recycling rates in the country, standing at 28 per cent which the council wants to increase to 40 per cent.

Senior councillors approved the fortnightly collection move along with new charges for new wheelie bins that range between £37 (180L) and £370 (1,110L) and new fees for people wanting to dump DIY waste, such as kitchen sinks and fence panels, at the Chalvey Household Waste & Recycling Centre that will give the council £40,000 a year in income.

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The bin collection swap will be included in the 2023/24 budget, which will go to full council for approval in March. Once passed, the alternate pick-ups will take effect from June 26, 2023, whereas the bin and DIY charges will come into effect from November 1, 2022.

The switch would not include blocks of flats or HMOs with communal bins where collections would remain weekly.

The council is having to make gargantuan savings year in order to reduce its borrowing debt. Speaking at Wednesday’s cabinet meeting, Conservative leader Dexter Smith (Colnbrook with Poyle) said this move is a “consequence” of the council’s bankruptcy last July.

However, Cllr Rob Anderson (Lab: Britwell & Northborough), lead member for financial oversight, called the move a “no brainer” as other councils which swapped to fortnightly collections have seen an increase in recycling.

Cllr Anderson, who said the council has been eyeing this swap for a while, added: “When people are restricted about what they put in their grey bin because it’s got to last them a fortnight, they are forced to think about what they are putting in that bin and make sure they are putting in the right things in the red bin.

“It’s just the fact of life that happens.”

Slough Observer: PAPA (Image: PA)

According to council leader James Swindlehurst (Lab: Cippenham Green), there will be no redundancies to the council’s bin collection cohort but will see a reduction in agency staff as Slough’s workforce will be able to cope with the switch and make the service more “reliable”.

He added: “Slough is one of the last councils clinging to try and preserve the weekly service.

“Safe to say that we tried to preserve this as long as possible. We didn’t believe it offered a real surety and simplicity to people but in an environment where we really have to offset the massive inflationary pressures the council is facing and where the wage bill alone plus energy are going to add millions to our budget requirements next year, being able to offset a lot of that by making changes to the cost of the service prevents us from passing on new charges to residents.”

READ MORE: Slough Council called to scrap "unfair" bin charges

Concerns were raised by place scrutiny panel members, who believed the new bin charge should be scrapped and be provided for free as a part of the council tax.

Cllr Mohammed Nazir (Lab: Baylis & Stoke), lead member for the local environment, said in the rare incidents where someone’s bin has been lost or damaged, it is the residents’ responsibility to replace it – but if the council is responsible for cracking a residents’ container, the local authority will replace it free of charge.