Petition to reverse bin collection changes in Luton

On Saturday, September 22, a meeting took place at the Ghausia Centre on Westbourne Road, where members voiced their frustration at six Luton Borough Councillors in attendance.

Now, a petition is planned to be launched on Friday calling on the council to reverse its change to a two-weekly bin collection due to start on October 2. If that fails then protestors say demonstrations outside the Town Hall are a possibility.

Akbar Dad Khan said: “There’s lots of anger over the decision. The councillors who were present at the meeting simply didn’t have any explanation except to say that they wanted to save money.

“There was also no credible explanation for the lack of communication this consultation was carried out with two-inch tags placed on wheelie bins – how many of us would pay notice to that?

“I think the council fails to understand the magnitude of this change.

“Hopefully this petition will persuade the council to reverse their decision.”

Luton Borough Council is among the last local authorities in the country to have maintained a weekly bin collection in 2018. Neighbouring Central Bedfordshire Council and Bedford Borough Council already have two-weekly bin collections.

Conwy County is Wales made national deadlines by trialling bin collections on a monthly basis and Gwynedd, Wales, and Bury, Manchester, have had three-weekly bin collections since 2014. In all instances, money saving has been cited as the motive for cutting collections.

Mr Dad Khan added: “In Luton, the bins are half full by the weekend and already, people take lots of rubbish to the tidy tip. Once it’s a two week collection, the council will have to face the consequences.

“There will be more bags dumped on the pavement, torn by cats and foxes, with waste spilling everywhere. It will be a health issue and create a very unpleasant smell in the area. I think the council haven’t thought it through even though they will say they have.”