A London council has been slammed by furious residents after announcing it would halve rubbish collections in a bid to "boost recycling rates and help reach our climate goal".
Lambeth Council, in South London, had made the announcement in November last year prompting accusations of "greenwashing", but the reduced schedule came into force yesterday, sparking fury from locals.
Reacting to the news, residents on social media voiced their concerns.
One jabbed: "Thieves! Along with the increase in council tax," while a second added: "It’s not going to work on my road - bins overflow within a week... In the summer, it will stink and probably cause rats."
Another resident said: "A consultation on this change would have been nice, instead of a flyer through the door telling us this is what you are doing - all in the name of climate change.
Lambeth Councillor Rezina Chowdhury called the switch "important" in a bid to meet climate targets
Lambeth Council/Google
"You numpties are so obsessed with your Net Zero goals... us taxpayers are just an inconvenience."
There had been an official consultation on the matter in September, but the resident's apparent unawareness of any such process squares with reports that a mere two per cent of the borough's 330,000-strong population responded to council outreaches.
At the time, some 68 per cent of those surveyed were concerned about a lack of space in their bins, 53 per cent were concerned about smell, 47 per cent were concerned about vermin, 34 per cent were concerned about other people using their bins, and 44 per cent were concerned about the impact on the local street scene.
Only 9 per cent of respondents said they had "no concerns" about the changes.
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Tony Devenish had called the move "a budget cut dressed up in green clothing" and claimed "the rats will have a field day"
PA/GB News
At the time, Tony Devenish, City Hall Conservatives Environment Spokesman, told GB News: "Lambeth Labour increased council tax by hundreds of pounds this year and are now cutting bin collections in half.
"It's typical Labour – all tax, no service. The residents of Lambeth know a budget cut when they see it. This is a budget cut dressed up in green clothing. The rats will have a field day."
Lambeth Council was the first in the capital to declare a "climate emergency" in 2019 - and aims to become a "Net Zero council by 2030."
The move to prioritise food recycling has been met with frustration from some locals - one claimed the council had missed their green waste bins on multiple occasions, despite allegedly having been called "repeatedly". "Be nice if our food recycling bins were actually picked up on their due date... Does not bode well for the future!", the resident added.
Labour Lambeth Councillor Rezina Chowdhury, who is "responsible for action on the climate and ecological emergency and for advancing sustainable urban mobilities" in the borough, said: "We understand that this is a change that will take some getting used to for everyone, but it's an important one as we move towards a borough where we waste less, re-use more and increase recycling rates.
"More than half of London boroughs have already made this switch, and we have used experience gained elsewhere to help us make this change."
Though Cllr Chowdhury and a Lambeth Council spokesperson were keen to highlight the introduction of fortnightly collections across the capital, representatives from elsewhere in London were not quite as glowing.
Cllr Tom Bennett, who sits on the Environment Select Committee at Kensington and Chelsea London Borough Council, told GB News he was "surprised" Lambeth residents were happy with their council's decision.
He added: "When you live in a flat in central London, two weeks is a very long time to store rubbish without collection, and can lead to all sorts of environmental problems.
"In Kensington and Chelsea, we are committed to twice-weekly collections, which provides a significant benefit to all our residents."
GB News has approached Cllr Rezina Chowdhury for further comment.
