Confirmation that Eric Pickles attempt to reintroduce weekly landfill collections have failed comes from Materials Recycling Week. The magazine did a survey of all English Councils and found only one had applied for money to return to a weekly service for landfill. The Civil servants must have seen this coming, as they swiftly broadened the fund to apply to food waste collections as well, so at least something will come out of the Pickles vanity project.
Why is the prospect of returning to weekly collections so unattractive? Firstly, it goes against the established trend of the waste hierarchy , which is designed to reduce waste and increase the recycling of what waste is produced. Increasing the number of landfill collections simply encourages a throw away society. Secondly, rubbish collections need a long term infrastructure of vehicles, bins and public education. A one off grant from a hopefully here today and gone tomorrow politician like Eric Pickles is not something anyone organising such contracts would want to rely on.
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