Elliott Keck is Head of Campaigns for the Taxpayers’ Alliance.
Sometimes at the TaxPayers’ Alliance we focus on the big things. Like the national debt, which now stands at over £2.5 trillion. We’ve released a debt clock which shows the national debt ticking up by £4,410 per second, £321 million per day.
Other times we like to focus on the smaller, seemingly trivial matters. Like our latest research which reveals the number of bins in each council area around the UK.
Certain Westminster types are more interested in our work on the former issue, not entirely unreasonably. There is a debt monster stalking the nation’s finances and its impact cannot be reduced to a figure on a screen. The interest on that debt means taxes that can’t be cut, and spending priorities that can’t be enacted.
Except for most people, in their day-to-day lives, the national debt really is just a figure on a screen. What really matters is A&E times at their local hospital, potholes in the roads, a contentious planning application, local crime rates. And, of course, bin collections.
Arguably, there is no more direct relationship between the public and government than bins. Every council has a page on the website, titled something like “check your collection day”, when are my bins and boxes collected”, “how bins collections work.” On these pages, it says something like “find out when we collect recycling and rubbish.” There is something almost intimate about the relationship, something unmediated, even if the actual operation of bin collections involves contractors or private companies.
And when things go wrong, the fact that the national debt is almost at 100 per cent of GDP pales in comparison. Who cares about the public finances when you have a stinking, full-to-the-brim food waste bin that hasn’t been collected because you’ve forgotten to put it out the day before. Or when you have cardboard piling high because the bin men are on strike. Or you followed every rule in the long list of rules but still it wasn’t collected for reasons miscellaneous.
The fact that such a basic, crucial service can be so complicated and go wrong so often can be infuriating. What’s fascinating, though, is the extent to which the complexity of bin collections differs around the country. Stay with me here. If you’re as interested in local government as a reader of this column should be, this should be interesting.
There is actually an enormous variation in the number of bin types each council has. Seriously. The average across all councils is four, but Gosport Council, on the west bank of Portsmouth Harbour has just two bins, whereas Blaenau Gwent and Merthyr Tydfil councils in Wales have ten each, as does Cotswold council in Oxfordshire. In total, eleven bin types were reported in FOI responses as part of our research. They are: general waste, dry mixed recycling, food waste, paper and card, garden waste, glass, plastics, batteries, textiles, waste electrical and electronic equipment and coffee pods. It’s only a separate bin for coffee pods lacking in Blaneau Gwent, Cotswold and Merthyr Tydfil councils. Room for growth, if not much.
There isn’t just variation between councils, there is some variation between regions. The average Welsh council has six bins, while those in the south west and south east average five. The other regions all average four.
Another interesting point to note is that 70 per cent of councils now charge for at least one type of bin collection, most commonly garden waste.
This matters, and for two reasons. Firstly, separation of waste is not optional. The government insists that it wishes “to encourage a measured and balanced approach, where householders are not penalised for minor breaches of waste bin rules.” But the possibility of a fine is certainly there. As Blaneau Gwent, which has ten bins, warns on its website, “The Authority can issue fixed penalty notices to households that continue to place recyclable items into their black bins and bags. This means the resident must pay a fixed penalty of £100 or appear in court”. In a bizarre attempt to be friendly they add “We don’t want to issue these fixed penalties, but it’s not fair on the whole community if a few households continue to not to recycle all they can, when everyone else is.” The more complicated it becomes, the more households risk making a mistake, which is a significant issue if a fine could result.
It’s also important for a more basic, philosophical reason. Isn’t this what we pay councils to do? Council tax is up by 79 per cent in real terms since its introduction. Most households saw an inflation-busting council tax rise in spring. Why, when this is one of the core, fundamental services that councils provide, is it so complicated, and why in so many places is the burden of that complexity falling on taxpayers?
It’s no wonder that in May this year the previous government announced new national rules for bin collections. This would mean the same materials being collected from homes, workplaces and schools, “ending the confusing patchwork of different approaches across England.” Households will be hoping these reforms don’t get thrown in the bin.