Kirklees Council has revealed the cost of replacing all 160,000 grey wheelie bins would be a staggering £4.4 million.

A controversial proposal in the council’s draft budget for 2025-26 suggested buying every household a new bin that’s just three-quarters of the size of the current ones.

That, says the council, would slash the amount it has to pay for waste disposal with people encouraged to recycle more and make better use of their green bins.

The council says the cost of buying everyone a new bin would be offset by the savings which could amount to a £500,000 ‘profit’ every year.

However, the plan has been widely condemned – ridiculed even – by critics who say the sums don’t add up and the likely result is an increase in fly-tipping.

The council’s Labour Cabinet has also come under fire from the district’s four Labour MPs – Harpreet Uppal (Huddersfield), Paul Davies (Colne Valley), Kim Leadbeater (Spen Valley) and Jade Botterill (Ossett and Denby Dale) – who urged the council to think again and “explore alternative solutions.”

The Cabinet has tried to distance itself from the proposals, saying it was a suggestion from officers and the whole draft budget is subject to change as it’s out for public consultation until January 15.

One Cabinet member is quoted on social media as giving a “concrete reassurance” that the scheme would never happen, and had never been the plan.

 

 

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Asked by Huddersfield Hub to clarify its position, the council issued the following statement and here it is in full.

A Kirklees Council spokesperson said: “There is no immediate plan to replace grey wheelie bins anywhere in Kirklees.

“We’ve published a consultation on budget proposals for the next financial year. But we don’t take these decisions without first asking people in Kirklees. That’s why we will look at all the feedback we receive over the next month and report back in January.

“Managing waste costs the council millions every year, and for every tonne of waste we don’t recycle, the council has to pay more.

“That’s residents’ money which we’d rather use to tackle fly-tipping and keeping our streets clean. Reducing the amount of waste we produce is also good for the environment and we’re always looking for ways to make Kirklees a greener place.

“This is just one way we could potentially reach our ambitious targets on reducing waste and emissions in Kirklees.

“We think the cost of replacing bins would be more than covered by the savings we would make. It would cost around £4.4m to replace the bins but we think we could save over £0.5m every year on top of paying for the new bins if we were able to reduce the amount of waste we don’t recycle by around 20%.

“But there’s an extra saving too: for our environment. Most people in Kirklees want to play their part in reducing their carbon footprint and we need to think of ways we can be a greener place.

“We haven’t taken any decisions on this proposal. We want to hear local views before we decide if we will move forward or not. Whatever is decided, we will do it in the most efficient and sustainable way possible.”

Public consultation on the draft budget for 2025-26 is open now and runs until midnight on January 15 2025. The survey is live at https://www.kirklees.gov.uk/budget

 

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