Anger over bin charges

Wheelie Bin

Following the news that bin collections across Rochdale will move to once every three weeks, residents are now angry after Rochdale Council announced that there is an admin and delivery charge for all new dark green bin requests.

Rochdale Council stated on social media: “We’ve introduced charges for dark green bins.”

Frustrated residents made their feelings known but those comments were removed prompting yet more comments asking why the comments had been removed and accusing the Council of "censorship".

Lawrence Glendinning said: “The whole plan has been ill thought out. Plus, we all know that RMBC has utterly ignored 2,700 people. This just goes from bad to worse. Then the RMBC spin division will issue a statement, which will ignore all of our concerns and harp on about how brilliant it all is. I’ve already mentioned my fears about the censorship being exercised quite freely by RMBC.”

Gary Osbaldeston, from the campaign group Keep Rochdale Tidy, said: “I am sure I speak for everyone who is against the councils changes to bin collections when I say I find charging people for replacement dark green bins is unacceptable and risks discouraging people from obtaining them. If someone chooses not to get another bin, it could result in them fly tipping and/or them taking more rubbish to the tip.

“The council say they are trying to encourage more recycling but this does not appear to be a good way to go about it. People are still angry because they feel they are not getting services they pay for in council tax. I will soon be putting a Freedom of Information act request together as the council have not yet been forthcoming in answering certain questions regarding facts and figures about the true costs of the changes"

Charges for dark green bins start at £27.50 for a small 140 litre bin and go up to £406 for a 1,100 litre bin for flats/communal bin areas.

Martin Taylor, Head of Environmental Management at Rochdale Borough Council, said: “We have been charging for the second replacement of dark green bins since 2013 so charging for the administration and delivery of bins is not new. The amendment to the policy only affects new and replacement dark green bins and brings Rochdale in-line with most of the other authorities in Greater Manchester.

“Because we want to encourage all residents to recycle, we will continue to provide all recycling bins for free. Dark green bins that need replacing because they are worn out or accidentally damaged by a collection crew will be replaced free of charge as normal.”