East Suffolk Council should restore fortnightly general-waste (black bin) collections across East Suffolk while continuing weekly food-waste collections and the improved separation of recyclable materials.

Residents support recycling and reducing avoidable waste. However, three-weekly general-waste collections require households to store unavoidable non-recyclable waste for up to 21 days.

This includes disposable nappies, incontinence products, dog waste, cat litter, sanitary waste, vacuum contents and other materials that cannot be placed in the food-waste or recycling bins. Securely bagging this waste does not remove the potential for odours, flies, maggots and hygiene problems, particularly during warm weather.

The new system also requires many households to accommodate additional bins and caddies. This creates genuine difficulties for residents with small gardens, shared access, narrow terraces, limited mobility or no suitable outdoor storage.

Missed or delayed collections make the three-weekly arrangement even less practical. Missing one black-bin collection can leave a household waiting significantly longer before its waste is removed.

We therefore call on East Suffolk Council to:

1. Restore fortnightly general-waste collections across East Suffolk.
2. Continue weekly food-waste collections.
3. Continue separate recycling collections.
4. Offer appropriate container arrangements for properties with insufficient storage space.
5. Provide additional support for households producing unavoidable quantities of nappies, incontinence products, medical or care-related waste.
6. Publish the costs, service-performance information and environmental evidence used to compare fortnightly and three-weekly general-waste collections.

This petition is not opposed to recycling. It proposes a balanced system that combines improved recycling and weekly food-waste collection with a practical and hygienic fortnightly collection for unavoidable general waste.

I started this petition after experiencing severe smells and maggots following the introduction of the new collection arrangements. I am also concerned about households that have nowhere suitable to store the additional bins.