PETITION AIM: To get the council to go back to 2 weekly bins collections, or reduce our Council Tax bills.

Please sign this petition and share with friends, work colleagues, family, neighbours, social media and ask them to sign it too. Let’s make a stand together

Councils up and down the country have been changing weekly bin collections over years to two week collections.

My local council Tameside Council have in recent weeks sent letters to all residents with new bin schedules of “3 weeks collections” changing this from 2 weeks collections….it’s absolutely absurd! 

The letter received from TMBC states a “Pilot scheme of only 3 areas of Tameside” took part. There are 19 ward areas in Tameside of which over 227,117 residents live. The pilot scheme has ONLY 889 responses from the pilot, so what about the other 225,707 residents who may have wanted to take part. 

The letter says this is for efficiency savings. However on research the council paid for significant advertising on radio, newspaper and on social media for weeks. Instead I had suggested sending a one off black&white print letter to ALL households so ALL residents would have been able to express honest views & opinions. It would have been Significantly much cheaper, more cost effective and offering a consultation to ALL without creating inequalities to various groups, discriminating areas and protected characteristics within groups in the community. 

The pilot scheme responses included:

You have increased council tax but reduced the service
Black bins full before 3 weeks 
Blue bins full before 3 weeks 
Brown bins NOT emptied on time 
Issues with green bins 
Residents Having to go to tip more (isn’t that the point of the service collecting household recycling) 
Concerns fly tipping /rubbish has increased in the areas
Bin sizes to small 

Tameside council have not done anything about these pilot findings before going live with this new bin change. Their EIA (equality impact assessment) has failings of inequalities within it, which have been swept under the carpet, e.g residents with disabilities who can’t pull their bin now have an extra week of rubbish and heavier bin. Those with sight /hearing problems/ those in financial hardship who couldn’t afford internet to see the “consultation” those who do not have social media eg older residents/those suffering financial hardship, so unless you bought the specific paper advertising took place in, you wouldn't know about it … just like what happened to my family/neighbours. There is no visible action plan to tackle these findings and the consultation seems irrelevant as it seemed a “tick box” exercise 

Councils up and down the country have increased our council tax bills of which a percentage goes to waste services to help fund their services, but they have now reduced services again, bin sizes are smaller, bins won’t be emptied for 3 weeks, household rubbish is overflowing causing excess rubbish, fly tipping, theft as bins are being stolen as desperation sets in, vermin on increase, and bins are not being emptied on time

This bin change needs to STOP immediately and be reinstated back to 2 week collections or you reduce our council tax bills and a thorough whole borough wide consultation take place and transparency on the findings and what will be done about those findings before any such change is planned.

We pay our council tax, we should have a say!!