Collect bins weekly or lose government funding, councils warned

Councils in England that fail to restore weekly bin collections could see their central government funding cut, Eric Pickles has warned.

The local government secretary said there was "no plausible reason" why councils should not collect the bins every week. It is reported that more than half of councils in England run some form of fortnightly collection.

The government is providing £250m through the weekly collection support scheme to councils that do maintain a weekly service.

Officials said 85 local authorities covering more than 6 million households were set to benefit from the programme announced in September.

"Weekly bin collections are one of the most visible frontline services and there is no plausible reason why councils shouldn't deliver them to hard-working residents," Pickles said. "We have demolished the Labour myth that fortnightly bin collections were necessary to save money or increase recycling.

"If councils don't get their house in order and deliver this basic public service then not only will they be held to account at the ballot box.

"We will be looking closely at the central government funding for bin collections; councils receive £28bn in formula grant funding – it's not unreasonable that they provide a decent bin service in return."