Recycling collections to move to a fortnightly basis from 2023

Recycling collections will move to a fortnightly basis from 2023 under plans that will affect how waste is collected in Milton Keynes.

Milton Keynes Council’s Labour and Liberal Democrat coalition confirmed the decision to commence work to commission a new external provider for waste collections at a Delegated Decisions meeting on 20 July.

The new provider will be tasked with delivering the wheelie bin trial to the entire borough and marks a huge change to how waste is collected in the city.

Recycling collections will now be collected on a fortnightly basis with the type of recycling alternating with one week collecting papers and the next week collecting other recycling materials.

Currently, MK Council’s waste collection services are struggling due to the ‘pingdemic’ that has seen 25% of waste and collection staff having to self-isolate.

Cllr Dan Gilbert, the Conservative’s Environment and Waste spokesperson, said:

“We know that the waste teams are working hard amidst challenging circumstances, and we encourage the Council to do everything that it can to ensure waste and recycling gets collected.

These latest pressures are yet another reminder of why MK’s Labour and Lib Dem coalition need to be wary and take care over destabilising waste services with their tip booking system, wheelie bin pilot and a shift to fortnightly services.

As a green city, we need to be making it easy for families to recycle, not putting up barriers that could increase fly-tipping. We hope MK Council consider this going forward.”