Originally Posted by
jon1959
I doubt it is anything to do with 'Senydd/Drakeford politics'.
It is almost certainly about Council funding levels.
True there is a degree of autonomy in the nations outside England, that there will always be some poor decisions and some inefficiency, and at the margins it can be about funding choices (Councils choosing to pay for a few 20 mph road signs where the WAG has enabled them rather than a few more plastic bins) but it is the same story across most of the UK - whether England, Scotland, Northern Ireland or Wales.
Since 2010 there has been a massive and continuing financial squeeze on Councils whilst demand from an ageing population grows.
Hertfordshire may be the exception that proves the rule - but most in the face of central government funding cuts have stopped providing most discretionary services, have maxed out on Council Tax rates, have watched business rate income drop (much more so in poorer Labour towns and cities than wealthier Tory shires), have started issuing section 114 notices (8 so far both Tory and Labour - and another 100+ council warning they are on the brink) and have sold every remaining asset.
Some councils are now little more than adult social care and emergency housing providers - and even there they are failing as demand goes up and revenues go down.
In the face of that it is no surprise that bin collection services across the UK have been hit year on year.
I don't see the sense in using bags (I have used these in the Vale and in Cornwall for a short time and they are a false economy) but otherwise Councils are forced to reduce waste collection services alongside everything else to balance their books.
We have four hard plastic wheelie bins in Sheffield. The frequency of collection is half of what it was in 2010. We have a big black bin for general waste collected every 2 weeks; a big brown bin for glass/cans/plastics collected every 4 weeks; a small blue bin for paper and card collected every 4 weeks and a big green bin for garden waste (for an annual fee) collected every 2 weeks during the 7-8 month growing season. Apart from the green bin (unchanged) the others have gone from 1/2 week collections to 2/4 weeks.
For waste collection (Dumpit) sites there is no need to book for domestic disposal - booking needed for big vans and traillers.
All of waste disposal was 'outsourced' to Veolia in 2001 when the Lib Dems were in control (35 year contract that has been very rocky over the years but still in place).
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