Reverse Southampton's New Refuse Collection Schedule

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This petition had 3,733 supporters

The Issue

We strongly believe the new refuse collection scheme introduced by the Southampton City Council on June 5 2017 must be reversed or rethought based on the following points:

  • The new scheme results in accumulation of waste on our streets for 14 days until its removal. This creates smells, and dispersion of rubbish and in a windy city like Southampton almost daily.
  • Many households don't have bins from the council, only bags, which are far more vulnerable to animals, including foxes and most importantly rats.
  • The amount of waste each house can produce over 14 days often exceeds the capacity of the waste bin provided.

This results in the following problems:

  • Refusal of waste in neighbours’ bins when owned bins are full.
  • Overload of bins which do not close properly leading to animals including seagulls and pigeons to look for food in the bins resulting in more waste on the street pavement and roads.
  • The spread of bacteria from both animals, waste, and households using disposable nappies; becomes a health issue that can harm the city’s residents. This is especially evident in summer when higher temperatures help bacteria thrive.

A reversal would ideally include:

  • Processing a wider range of recycled products including all forms of plastic—not just plastic bottles without lids. These often end up in rubbish and take up a lot of space.
avatar of the starter
Max WhitePetition Starter
Media enquiries

The Decision Makers

Jacqui Rayment
Jacqui Rayment
Cabinet Member for Environment, Southampton City Council
Responded
“We strongly believe the new refuse collection scheme introduced by the Southampton City Council on June 5 2017 must be reversed or rethought based on the following points: Q. The new scheme results in accumulation of waste on our streets for 14 days until its removal. This creates smells, and dispersion of rubbish and in a windy city like Southampton almost daily. A. Over 70% of councils across the country have introduced fortnightly collections of general waste. It is a tried and tested method of collection and there is no reason for residents in Southampton not to manage their waste with collections every 2 weeks. Southampton is no more windy that many cities in the UK and should not use this as a reason for requesting a change to fortnightly collections. If residents kept all their waste and recycling contained in their wheeled bins with the lids shut, there is no reason for the dispersion of rubbish or smells. Excess waste can be taken to the household waste recycling centre. Q. Many households don't have bins from the council, only bags, which are far more vulnerable to animals, including foxes and most importantly rats. A. The majority of households that have moved across to fortnightly collections have wheeled bins. There are 3,200 properties on sack collections and if there is space to safely store a bin, residents have been able to change from sacks to wheeled bins. Where there are sheltered blocks on sacks and there is space for communal wheeled bins, these have been installed. Having reviewed service requests received since 5 June 2017, 39 requests have been received from residents concerned about managing their waste using sacks. Issues relating to vermin/animals are more likely to be a result of residents not managing their waste, and leaving excess waste out for collection. We reiterate the need to keep waste and recycling in wheeled bins with the lids closed. Q. The amount of waste each house can produce over 14 days often exceeds the capacity of the waste bin provided. A. Since 5 June – 31 August, general waste crews have reported 3025 instances of side waste. Based on 1,031,907 general waste and recycling collections made in the same time period, this equates to 0.29% of collections made. If this was to be based just on general waste collections this would amount to 0.58% of collections made. It is not accepted that the amount of waste each house can produce often exceeds the capacity of the general waste bin provided. The majority of the city is managing their waste well and we would say a big thank you to these residents. This results in the following problems: Q. Refusal of waste in neighbours’ bins when owned bins are full. A. Refuse in neighbours bins when own bins are full – we do not have robust data on this as few residents report this as an issue, and we are likely to have received less than 20 service requests. A crew working on general waste bulky collections, did report that a few residents had said residents in houses were putting their waste in communal bins for flats. These were isolated incidents. Residents are required to only put their general waste in their own bin and be good neighbours. Q. Overload of bins which do not close properly leading to animals including seagulls and pigeons to look for food in the bins resulting in more waste on the street pavement and roads. A. If the bin lid is left wide open then this will attract birds and animals. The bins are designed to close which would prevent incidents like this. Q. The spread of bacteria from both animals, waste, and households using disposable nappies; becomes a health issue that can harm the city’s residents. This is especially evident in summer when higher temperatures help bacteria thrive. A. Over 234 other Local Authorities have already made the change to alternate weekly bin collections. None of them have reported any associated health issues with changing to fortnightly general waste collections. By bagging general waste properly, especially food waste, and ensuring that the bin lid remains closed, this will minimise odours, vermin and flies. Any additional waste bags should be taken to the Household Waste and Recycling Centre. A reversal would ideally include: Q. Processing a wider range of recycled products including all forms of plastic—not just plastic bottles without lids. These often end up in rubbish and take up a lot of space. A. Recycling collected from households in Southampton is sent to a Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) where the different materials (paper, card, plastic bottles, aerosols and cans) are sorted before being sent for recycling. At present, the MRF only has the capability to separate plastic bottles, not other types of plastic such as pots, tubs and trays. Similarly the MRF cannot sort drinks cartons (such as tetra paks) which are a mix of cardboard, plastic and foil. However, this is currently being reviewed by Southampton in…”

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Petition created on 29 June 2017