Residents brown-ed off over bin collections

PLANS not to collect brown bins for a month during the festive period are causing a stink among residents.

North Herts District Council has decided not to empty the brown bins, which are used to dispose of food waste, cardboard, and garden waste, on December 22, in accordance with the usual fortnightly schedule.

This means the bins, which were emptied this week, will not be collected again until January 5.

One Royston resident who contacted The Crow said: "The first we heard of it was when they put a sticker on our bin.

"It seems like a strange time to miss a collection, when people are going to be having family round for Christmas dinners, and will probably be making more food waste.

"December 22 isn't even a public holiday, so there's no reason that they couldn't have the collections.

Brown bins were originally introduced to house compostable garden waste.

The scheme was expanded earlier this year to include items such as kitchen waste.

Cllr Lynda Needham, portfolio holder for waste and recycling at the district, said that the district council "looked at the options for dealing with waste collections over Christmas" and decided it was best to get the schedule back to normal as quickly as possible.

She said: "By suspending the brown bin collection for one round, the rota reverts to normal by January 5.

"If we had emptied the brown bins during the Christmas period the rota would have been disrupted until January 19.

"The delay should not prove a problem if residents wrap their food waste securely in newspaper, paper bags or cardboard as it is the coldest time of year.

"There should be space as there will be very little garden rubbish.

"Residents in North Herts have proved they care about the environment by helping to cut the amount of rubbish going to landfill and recycling more.

"We are sure they will carry on caring over Christmas.