Map shows all the councils cutting bin collections despite council tax going up

Around one in 10 councils across the UK are reducing one or more bin collection services, even though council tax is set to increase.

This is the equivalent of 42 councils across the country, according to data from the Taxpayers’ Alliance.

It also means that around 8million people could be hit with changes to their bin collection.

Meanwhile, 800,000 of us will have to endure weekly recycling services cut to fortnightly or monthly.

It comes as more than 2million people face a council tax increase of between 5-10% this year after the government allowed six areas to boost rates above the usual 5%.

For those who live in Bristol, Carmarthenshire and East Ayrshire, the councils are considering reducing waste pick-up to once a month.

The problem is so bad in Bristol that people have signed a petition to stop the move.

But for many cash-strapped councils, reducing bin collections is one way of saving money.

North Ayrshire, Dundee, Angus and East Ayrshire could shift its recycling collection to once a month.

On top of this, 13 councils plan to extend fortnightly residual waste collections to three-weekly.

This includes East Hertfordshire, which is also considering slashing bin sizes from 240 to 180 litres.

Joanna Marchong, investigations campaign manager of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: ‘Residents will be left wondering what to do when the bin lorries don’t show up and the rubbish piles high.

‘A shocking number of councils are considering cutting collections, which would leave people facing ever-growing mountains of waste.

‘Town halls need to stop making a mess of basic services and focus on delivering what taxpayers pay for.’

Changes to the way bins are collected in England were announced in 2023 – after the government announced new rules on recycling.

Every county and borough in England will have to recycle the same materials from 2026.

This is all being introduced to simplify recycling in England.

Food waste bins will also be collected at least once-a-week to reduce the amount going into landfill.

The current recycling rates in England have remained at around 44% for the last 10 years.

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