Well the trials have finally arrived. It seems that Meir Park and Bentilee have been chosen to trial the new fortnightly bin collections/enhanced recycling scheme being introduced by the City Council. See the Sentinel article by clicking here.There are lots of comments on the Sentinel website, many are extremely positive, but many make the point that this appears to mean more work/burden for residents, and there is no detail about what will actually happen to the recyclable materials (although I only skimmed the Sentinel article quickly, so perhaps I missed something).
Now I am all for recycling, and can see the benefits. However, it does mean more work and for many people it will be a big change to their normal routine. I wonder how the City Council are going to engage people in the embedding process and get everyone on board with this initiative.
There are certainly downsides to fortnightly bin collections. I remember an article on GMTV in the summer (what summer?), where the residents of Oxford were complaining about the dreadful smell from their rubbish, towards the end of the fortnight, a few days before the collection date. There were problems with vermin etc, and this to me is harking back to Victorian times - something I am sure no one, particularly our Councillors, will want for this city.
How will the council ensure the system runs smoothly? A 6 week trial in Meir Park and Bentilee will hardly have had time to get started, let alone be long enough to iron out all the problems - half of the problems will probably not have even materialised in that time! Yet the plan is to roll out fortnightly bin collections and the enhanced recycling by summer, to all Stoke on Trent residents.
There is also a good point made on the Sentinel article, about how disabled residents are catered for - they will surely have even further difficulties getting the various bins out on the correct days. And as a busy person myself, I never know which day my bottle/paper collection is, and rely on seeing other people's boxes out, before I put mine out, otherwise I miss it!
I really hope the people of Stoke on Trent take this initiative to heart and efficient recycling becomes a major success across the city. However, I think fortnightly bin collections could bring more problems than solutions, and hope the council have plans in place to address issues, as they arise. I am sure they will say the trial is intended just for that purpose.
I look forward to celebrating a successful recycling project, after all, we are way behind in this particular issue. What do you all think?
