4,000 sign petition to save fortnightly bin collections

By Local Democracy Reporter Peter Davison

More than 4,000 people have signed a petition to save fortnightly bin collections in Wiltshire.

Back in March, a cross-party group of Calne-based Conservative and Reform UK county and town councillors launched the county-wide Say No to 3-Weekly Bins campaign.

The campaign opposes Wiltshire Council’s plans to reduce the collection of residual household waste from once a fortnight to once every three weeks from 2027.

At the same time, waste contractors will begin weekly food waste collections and soft plastics recycling which, argues the council, will reduce the amount of refuse in residual rubbish bins.

The council says it can save £3.4 million by moving to a three-week residual waste cycle.

But the campaigners say the move will hurt “those least able to absorb the impact,” including “elderly people managing chronic illness, families with young children, carers supporting relatives with disabilities and households already under financial strain.”

The petition closed on 30th April, with 4,064 people having lent the campaign their support.

Changes to waste collection will be discussed at the Full Council meeting on Tuesday 19th May.

Cllr Augusta Urquhart-Nicholls (Calne Chilvester and Abberd, Reform) said, “We are absolutely delighted with the outcome of the petition, which has now secured over 4,000 signatures.

“This demonstrates a very strong level of public engagement and concern on this issue.

“We are now encouraging supporters to contact their local Wiltshire councillors directly, to ensure they are fully aware of both the petition and the scale of public response.”