News / Politics
Labour calls for public meeting about black bin collection changes
Bristol’s opposition Labour Party have called for a public meeting in order to hear what residents across the city think about the council’s plans to change the regularity of black bin collections.
A consultation is currently open which has options to keep the fortnightly collections or reduce their frequency to once every three weeks or four weeks.
A petition started by Bristol’s Labour group leader, Tom Renhard, has now received more than 9,000 signatures.
The petition says that the council “is currently planning to scrap your bi-weekly bin collection, and instead only collect your black bins once a month”.
But nothing has yet been decided and this has led to Emma Edwards, the Green group leader at City Hall, to write an open letter to Renhard calling on him to retract his “misleading comments”.
In her letter, Edwards writes: “Your comments presenting the consultation, aimed at improving Bristol’s recycling rates, as predetermined, were particularly unhelpful…
“You also say that the council is ‘currently planning to scrap your bi-weekly bin collection, and instead only collect your black bins once a month’.
“I hope you will take this opportunity to provide urgent clarification and to join me in encouraging residents to have their say in this incredibly important consultation.
“As we have stated, Bristol Greens will genuinely consider the results of the public consultation before making any decisions.
“Consultations in the past may have only been a tick-box exercise but under our administration, we want to use consultations for genuine feedback from residents.”
The possibility that Bristol’s black bins could only be collected monthly has become a national news story – photo: Bristol Waste
A Bristol Labour spokesperson said the Green Party “are playing dirty politics”.
He said: “More than 9,000 people have signed our petition calling for a stop to their plans.
“Are they really listening to the people of Bristol? We smell a rat!
“If they’re really serious, let’s have a public meeting. They can pick the date and the time, we’ll pay for the venue.
“Let’s hear what the people of Bristol have to say on this issue in an open forum.”
This is what Bristol thinks of the Green Party’s plans for monthly bin collections👇 pic.twitter.com/PHMzrKQpQJ
— Labour South West (@SWLabourParty) February 6, 2025
In her letter, Edwards also took issue with the “false claim” in Renhard’s petition that the Green Party in Bristol have proposed a 15 per cent rise in council tax.
Bristol24/7 understands that this figure appears because the petition was started in November when a consultation was still underway on a 15 per cent rise in council tax.
Residents in Bristol face a 4.99 per cent hike in council tax for the fifth successive year. The city council’s annual budget includes the maximum increase in bills allowed by the government without a local referendum.
Bristol City Council put out options between zero and 15 per cent increases during public consultation at the end of 2024, expecting the government to allow much bigger increases than in recent years, but it kept the limits the same.
A Labour source told Bristol24/7: “If they (the Greens) wish to talk about misleading statements, Cllr Fodor should retract his statement that missed bin collections were due to ‘recent budget cuts’.
“Likewise, Heather Mack fed into that narrative by saying the previous administration ‘underfunded’ waste services.
“The 2024/25 budget increased Bristol Waste’s funding by £3.9m annually – an annual increase of £7.5m since 2021.”
Main photo: Martin Booth
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