YOU could soon be putting out your black wheelie bin rubbish every three weeks instead of fortnightly.

The countywide move, being considered by Somerset Waste Partnership, would force us to recycle more of the things we throw out, meaning less rubbish buried in the ground.

It would also help cut the £12million of council taxpayer cash it takes to pay for dumping waste in landfill sites in Somerset.

But opponents say it could result in more fly tipping, large families would have overflowing bins and there aren't enough recycling facilities yet.

SWP describes a three-month trial of three-weekly refuse collections in Wiveliscombe in late 2014 as a "significant success", with "much more recycled and far less rubbish".

A spokesman said: "Proposals for extra recycling materials - plastic pots, tubs and trays, Tetra Pak-style cartons, small electrical items and household batteries - to be collected weekly would see far less in rubbish bins.

"With the potential for so much material to be collected for recycling each week, the councils, working through their joint SWP, have been exploring whether the refuse collection frequency could be reduced to three weekly."

A decision will be made within two months and SWP is looking at ending landfill, with waste processed elsewhere to extract materials or burn it for power.

There has been mixed reaction to the suggestions on Twitter and a story on countygazette.co.uk District Mayor Marcia Hill Tweeted: "They must be joking. People already have loads of black bags out with their bins. Nightmare storage for some homes."

Comments from opponents include Marc Fuller, who said it will lead to more flytipping and Martin House claimed it will cause "a stench to rival medieval times".

ferguson7 fears bins would "overflow and smell" and FreeSpeech? reckons it would be a health hazard.

Kieran Neale suggested European-style large communal bins on the street, while Lord Parker supports the idea if there are facilities to recycle more.

Roger Habgood said: "The plan includes cycling more including the plastic bottles - hip hip hooray."

davenews says his family of five would "easily" cope with three weekly collections.

 

 

We went out in Taunton to gauge reaction to possible three-weekly collections - here's what was said.

Patrick Moore: "Not a good idea, we have too much waste to throw out as it is."

Somerset County Gazette:

 

Andy Porter: "I don’t think it would be a good thing, many people cram their waste as it is. I expect we could cope as there are only two of us, but I don’t know what a family of four or five will do."

Somerset County Gazette:

 

Linda Burston: "We are retired and have more time to recycle things, but I’m not sure working people necessarily do. Young families already fill their wheelie bins for a fortnightly collection."

Somerset County Gazette: