When Labour lost control of Bolton Council in 2004 the recycling rate was 8.1%. They also had left 10,000 Green bins sitting in depots – bought but not issued to residents. That sums up their interest in recycling.

When Labour regained control from the Liberal Democrats in 2006 they inherited a recycling rate which stood at 33.3% (26.5% over a 12 month rolling average). Bolton had the best performance in Greater Manchester for dry recycling (everything except green waste) and overall was second only to Stockport. That was because we had introduced Alternate Weekly Collection of the grey bin.

In a report commissioned for the Council, WRAP (an independent recycling consultant funded by the Government) concluded that:

• the new service had increased recycling rates significantly and there was the potential for further increases;
• Residents generally now seemed happy with the new service although there were still some who needed to be convinced of the necessity of recycling and how to manage with the containers allocated.
• there was no truth in claims that the new system had increased the amount of waste taken to bring sites – in reality this had fallen
• It was unlikely that Bolton would achieve future recycling targets without some form of alternate or managed weekly collection service

In short, the system was working and generally being accepted by residents.

Labour regained control of the Council in part because they promised to return to a weekly collection of the grey bin. Yet even before they made that promise they had admitted to WRAP that they accepted there would have to be a change back to fortnightly residual collections at a later date.

  Since then, Labour has:

• changed the way the figures are calculated by including recycling in schools, leaves swept off the streets and cardboard
• spent nearly £3 million on beige bins, burgundy bins and food containers
• spent £1.5 million on extra refuse collection vehicles
• spent £80,000 on encouraging recycling in ‘low participation areas’
• introduced food collection
• spent millions extra on refuse collection (I estimate about £14 million since 2006)

Despite all this, the latest recycling figure is 29.8% (over a 12 month rolling average) and Bolton has now dropped to the bottom of the Greater Manchester ‘league’, missing every recycling target. Unless something urgent is done about it, that will cost us millions extra in disposal costs (the Council itself estimates an extra £8.8 million a year by 2015/16).

Labour’s politically motivated policy on refuse has cost the people of Bolton £ millions and set back recycling in the Borough by seven years.

Broken Labour promises

“We will hit the Government’s recycling targets” [Labour press advert April 2006]

“Fortnightly service will not return” [Labour Leader Cliff Morris, Bolton News October 2006]

“A weekly Grey Bin Collection Guaranteed only with Labour” [Labour leaflet May 2008]