Protestors hand over 1,300 name petition to Ashfield District Council in bins row

Under the proposed scheme the authority will replacing its black bins with smaller ones and use their old black bins for a free garden waste collection.

Huthwaite resident Danny Harvey presented his petition to a full meeting of Ashfield District Council on Thursday saying the council should engage and educate people to dispose of their waste appropriately, rather than buy the new bins.

In a question to the council Mr Harvey asked if it could provide a detailed analysis of all alternatives considered and reasons they were rejected.

Portfolio holder for the Environment Councillor Tim Brown, said: “ “Our residents have repeatedly told us they want to recycle more and the free garden waste collection is the best way forward to reach the 50 per cent recycling target by 2020.”

Under the plan the 240 litre black bin would become a garden waste bin. Residents would have more waste recycling capacity than they have had before and it was the best and most financially sustainable way of doing it.

He said education alone woul not bring about the necessary improvements.

He added: “There is clear academic and practical evidence which shows a big difference between people’s environmental attitudes and their environmental behaviour.

“The only way to make a significant improvement is to make sure the waste collection infrastructure is as close to the source of the waste as possible.

The council had rejected bins being emptied on a rotating three weekly cycle, because it reduced available capacity for all three bins.

He said education was vital for ensuring people understand the changes. There had been communication through social media outlets and roadshows were planned for people to find out more.

Coun Brown added: “I am confident that Ashfield residents will embrace this change and we will help them to adjust to it and together we can ensure we do what we all want to collectively achieve, which is an increase in recycling for this District.”

Mr Harvey said: “The council could be doing a lot better to recycle than they are doing. Local recycling centres are being closed, people are having to travel further increasing their carbon footprints, waste collection is becoming more infrequent, there is insufficient information on recycling in Ashfield and htere has been a terrible campaign on social media.

”Rushcliffe Borough Council has managed to increase recycling levels without reducing the size of general waste bins. Why can’t Ashfield?”

Coun Brown said Rushcliffe was a completely different area to Ashfield with a different set of residents.