Plans for a £250m fund to support councils’ weekly bin collection have been branded a “disappointing U-turn” by the waste industry amidst fears the move could reverse recent improvements in recycling rates.

Eric Pickles, the communities and local government secretary, unveiled the scheme ahead of the Conservative party conference in Manchester.

The waste management industry was quick to condemn the proposal warning that it was likely to lead to reduced recycling.

In a statement, the Charterd Iinstitute of Waste Management said the £250m could have been better spent on widening the range of materials collected for recycling, especially food waste, which it said was the main area of householder concern regarding collection frequency.

These concerns were shared by Hannah Hislop, senior policy adviser at environmental think-tank Green Alliance, who argued the move ran counter to evidence that fortnightly collections cut costs for councils and increased recycling.
“We know fortnightly collections save councils money and we know they help increase recycling rates,” she said. “We’re disappointed Eric Pickles won the day – it shows the influence he has on this area despite it not being a CLG policy area.”

However, Hislop added weekly collections of food waste offered an opportunity to cut the five million tonnes of domestic food waste sent to landfill every year, if councils move to only collect food waste weekly while still collecting other waste streams fortnightly.
“Our hope would be if the government are analysing applications they have to give them to councils that have sensible policies for weekly food waste… and are providing weekly food collections and fortnightly residual waste collections,” she said.

Friends of the Earth branded a return to weekly bin collections “an astonishing waste of taxpayers’ money [that] will have a disastrous impact on recycling”.
“More than half of councils in England have taken up fortnightly collections – the Government’s own advisors say they are not unhygienic if food waste is collected every week,” the campaign group said in a statement.
“A U-turn on recycling is hardly the action of the ‘greenest government ever’ that David Cameron promised – any available money would be better spent on increasing recycling, reducing waste, and helping councils to cut carbon.”

However, the fund was welcomed by the Environmental Services Association (ESA), a waste industry trade body, who said it would provide much-needed cash for councils.

“We must acknowledge that local authorities deal with a wide range of different pressures, needing to deliver both a great service for residents and maximum recycling of their wastes in a cost-effective manner,” an ESA spokesman said. “There will be no ‘one size fits all’ solution and it will be down to local authorities to decide which system best fits their local circumstances.”