Greens' doubts on bin scheme

Anna Watson, waste campaigner for Friends of the Earth, said that while Eastleigh Council may be collecting a high proportion of waste for recycling it was impossible to tell how much was actually recycled and how much was unfit for recycling because it had been contaminated by household waste.

Her remarks come just weeks before Southampton City Council is due to move to a similar scheme when household waste is collected just once a fortnight.

On alternate weeks, binmen will collect recyclable waste such as cardboard and plastic from the city's 87,000 households.

The scheme is due to roll out in Bassett in October this year. But residents claim that the new scheme is a health hazard and that their bins will be overflowing with rotting rubbish if they are left for two weeks.

They also say that the bins will become a magnet for vermin as well as attracting flies and maggots.

Ms Watson said: "The problem with Eastleigh's recycling scheme is that householders put anything into their bins. Eastleigh may be collecting a lot but we don't know how much goes to be reprocessed."

She told the Daily Echo that public support for a recycling scheme was crucial to its success and that if the majority of people were against planned recycling schemes they would be difficult to implement.

She said: "Two bins does not look like re-cycling. People might think how do I know it is going to be recycled? The popularity of the scheme is going to be very important. If you implement a scheme, you want to aim for a scheme that people can see and want to take part in."

Meanwhile, hundreds of Daily Echo readers have joined our campaign to get the council to scrap its controversial plans.

Already, petitions bearing signatures from people have been pouring in to our office from residents urging the council to scrap its plans and introduce a better recycling scheme than the one city environment chiefs propose.