Sheffield Council deny monthly black bin collection claims

A post, made on the Facebook page of the Sharrow Vale Community Association, says the development was revealed by a council employee.

“After speaking with a council officer over the telephone yesterday, I can confirm that the council is considering reducing black bin collections to once per month,” it states.

“He said that if the 'consultation' returns a positive result, monthly collections will be rolled out across Sheffield.

“In the Sharrow Vale area, black bins at student properties are already overflowing even though they are collected once a fortnight.

“Work out for yourselves the result of once per month collections.”

Robert Dodds, who runs the forum, said he has spoken to the council’s waste management provider who had told him that the authority was considering monthly collections.

A source at Sheffield City Council also confirmed that changes to black bin collections were being considered.

Liberal Democrat Leader Shaffaq Mohammed said it is another example of lack of transparency by the Labour-run cabinet.

He said: “They need to spell it out to people what they are planning to do. There are parts of Sheffield that already have a massive problem with vermin around bins where they are only being emptied every fortnight.

“Rubbish collections need to be appropriate for individual areas. If you’re in the countryside it’s different than if you are in the city centre. Different communities have different needs.

“If this does go ahead we are just going to see more problems with fly-tipping and littering. Before this goes any further, this is an opportunity for the Labour Cabinet to go away and reflect.”

While Adam Hanrahan, shadow cabinet member for environment and streetscene, added: “This really isn’t on because people are paying more and more council tax and they can’t keep reducing services in this way.”

Last week, it was reported that Sheffield residents had called on landlords to do more following a spate of fly-tipping by students in the Broomhill area.

Last year the council also reduced recycling collections to once a month in a bid to save £3.6m per year.

However, Gillian Charters, head of waste management at Sheffield City Council, said: “We are not changing our black bin collection frequency. They will still be collected every two weeks.”