Basingstoke scraps weekly bin collection for fortnightly

Under plans going to cabinet next week, grey bins will move to fortnightly pick-ups from October, with food waste caddies collected every week and green recycling bins and glass boxes collected on alternating weeks.

The shake-up makes Basingstoke the last waste collection authority in Hampshire to move to fortnightly general waste collections, and one of only 16 out of 360 authorities across the country still running weekly rubbish rounds - a group that includes five London boroughs and other city and urban councils.

It comes as the government says the council must more than double its recycling rate from 30 per cent to 65 per cent by 2035, and nearly halve the amount of waste produced per person from 535kg to 287kg by 2042.

The lorry driver shortage has caused some problems for bin collections across Suffolk (Image: Stock)

Cabinet Member for Residents’ Services and Housing Cllr Laura James said: “Putting it simply, we need to double the amount we recycle and cut by half the amount we throw away and this cannot not be achieved by doing nothing and staying as we are.

“We know we face a challenge, our recycling rates are low and the amount of waste produced in the borough is high but with modernised services, clear information and the right support provided to our residents, we can and will improve.

If the new recycling and waste strategy is approved at the cabinet meeting on June 9, councillors will back 30 actions to reduce waste, reuse items and recycle as much as possible of what is left.

The change would bring Basingstoke into line with neighbouring Hart District Council, which has collected waste every other week since 2006, and Rushmoor Borough Council, which introduced the same changes in 2021. Hart currently recycles around 42 per cent of its household waste and Rushmoor 43 per cent, compared with just 30 per cent in Basingstoke and Deane - placing the borough 177th out of 197 waste collection authorities in England.

Basingstoke Bin collections (Image: Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council)

The council says over a third of what currently goes into grey rubbish bins could already be recycled. It is also warning residents about the problem of contamination — where items are put in the wrong bin — which can result in a green bin full of recycling having to be taken to the incinerator and burned instead of being processed.

It has already taken steps to reduce waste. Last October it introduced a weekly food waste collection, with food waste making up roughly 30 per cent of the borough's rubbish.

The council says this could take up to a third out of grey bins, with the material recycled into greener energy and fertiliser.

The strategy also sets out plans for a new kerbside collection service for small waste electrical and electronic items — including kettles, toasters, hairdryers, hand blenders, small toys, cables and phones — which could be introduced as early as spring 2027.

In the meantime, temporary new recycling banks for plastic pots, tubs, trays and cartons are being introduced at six council-owned sites across the borough while Hampshire County Council builds a new sorting facility in Eastleigh, due to open in 2028. The new facility will allow the council to collect a wider range of plastics from kerbside for the first time.

The changes are part of a wider strategy designed to prepare for the creation of a new North Hampshire unitary authority in April 2028, which will bring Basingstoke and Deane together with Hart and Rushmoor under a single council. The report warns that, without "decisive action", Basingstoke risks entering the new authority as its weakest performer on waste and recycling.

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