The Taxpayers’ Alliance has slammed a south west England council’s plans to force every house to use five bins as “overkill”.
Wiltshire Council has proposed each home would have five bins by 2027.
The cost of implementing the scheme, including collecting and processing the waste, would run into the millions of pounds each year.
However, Environment, Climate and Waste Cabinet Member, Councillor Paul Sample said it would cost less than the penalties the council faces by sending waste to landfill.
It would also mean residents would need to separate paper and card from plastic bottles and cans.
They are currently collected together as mixed recycling in blue lid bins.
Mr Sample said it was “something we need to deal with as rapidly as we can”.
Food waste will be collected on recycling collection days as well as soft plastics, for which Wiltshire Council will provide plastic bags.
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The plans would force residents to split paper waste from plastic bottles and cans
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GETTYThe remainder of waste collected in a household will be collected in black bins on a fortnightly basis.
The five bins will include one full-size bin for plastic, metal and cartons.
It will also include one full-size bin for paper and card, one box for glass, one container for food waste and one full-size bin for residual waste.
The council will provide a plastic bag for soft plastics, which will be deposited inside one of the recycling bins.
Wiltshire Council have been told to ‘bin this plan, simplify the system, and focus on keeping costs down for hard-pressed families’
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Wiltshire Council’s environment select committee this week was told 43 per cent of the county’s kerbside residual waste was food waste.
That includes rubbish which was not put out for recycling.
Mr Sample told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that “maximising the recycling not only helps protect our environment, but any increase in income generated can also be used to offset the costs of managing the waste we all generate”.
The committee agreed to establish a task group which specifically looks at waste collection and contracts.
Joanna Marchong, investigations campaign manager of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: “Taxpayers will be baffled at the prospect of every household being lumbered with five separate bins.
“At a time when council tax bills are soaring, this feels like overkill.
“These complicated waste schemes cost millions to set up and run, and all too often end up creating more confusion than recycling.
“Residents want simple, affordable services, not more bureaucracy spilling onto their doorsteps.
“Wiltshire Council should bin this plan, simplify the system, and focus on keeping costs down for hard-pressed families.”
The council will roll out a trial of new red-lidded bins for plastic and metal for more than 500 households in the town of Chippenham in the coming weeks.
The trial will run until February next year.
Wiltshire Council stated: “Residents will receive clear guidance on how to use the new containers and what materials go where.
“Participation in the trial will help the council understand how the new system works in practice and identify any improvements needed before the countywide rollout.”