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Fortnightly rubbish collection ‘will lead to an insects plague’
Councillor slams ‘one size fits all’ refuse plans and warns of houseflies danger
ENVIRONMENT chiefs are predicting a plague of houseflies in Westminster following a government probe into plans to axe weekly bin collections.
The common housefly – a pest capable of spreading, cholera, Salmonella, bacillary dysentery, tuberculosis and anthrax – gestates every fortnight.
If the government moves for fortnightly collections the pests will multiply, according to Councillor Alan Bradley.
He said: “The public health implications of fortnightly collections have not been examined closely enough.
“The gestation period for the common housefly is 14 days, so it does not take a mathematical genius to work out that fortnightly collections could lead to an increase in flies, let alone other pests and vermin.”
Hungry rats and cockroaches are also expected to rise up from the sewers as rubbish piles up on the streets.
The fears follow a probe into plans to end weekly bin collections which has revealed concerns over their impact to public health.
The move could also confuse the public and provoke protests, according to the House of Commons Communities and Local Government Committee report on refuse collection and dealing with waste.
Westminster, with more rubbish than anywhere else in the country, has enjoyed twice-weekly collections.
Cllr Bradley said the “one size fits all” would not work in densely populated Westminster.
He said: “The authority is actually bucking the national trend by carrying out collections twice a week across a large part of the city – with a weekly recycling,” he said.
He added: “This report seems to confirm what we’ve been saying all along. There’s been a lot of pressure to join this mad rush to fortnightly collections as a way of increasing recycling rates and cutting costs.
“We believe that refuse collection is what residents pay their council tax for, and that encouraging people, rather than punishing them, is the best way to increase recycling rates.”
Almost 90 per cent of Westminster’s 240,000 residents live in flats, and space for storing rubbish is limited.
The council spends more on waste collection, disposal and recycling than any other local authority in the UK. Its £42m-a-year contract with Veolia is one of the largest in Europe, and more than 190,000 tonnes of waste is collected annually. |
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