Burnley dad's plea to councillors to bring back weekly bin collections

Daniel Brooks said his family’s resulting pile of nappies in the kitchen or garden was a health risk. He told Burnley’s Full Council meeting: “As every city and town does face a refuse collection problem, I’m miffed as to why the residents of Burnley are still facing two refuse collections a month. A home is an environment that should be safe and secure and especially safe and secure from illnesses and diseases.

“I’ve recently been fortunate enough to have been blessed with another child, prematurely delivered. And before that child came along we had a family of three and by the Monday or the Tuesday of the following week after the first refuse collection the bins were close to overflowing which meant a dilemma.

“Do we pile up more bags in the kitchen therefore the knock on effect on the next fortnight’s collection is the bins are close to overflowing again? Or do we put them out in the garden where cats are a major problem and then we have to go and clear up the rubbish?

“So I looked into the audit and I saw that you had a reserve of just over £25million. I can’t understand why the council can’t increase the budget and deliver weekly refuse collections.

“I don’t know how many of you are raising small children but one thing they do do is they go through a hell of a lot of nappies. It’s faeces, it’s urine. I have to make a decision: do I pile them up in my garden and annoy the neighbours or do I pile them up in may kitchen and run the risk of things like Staph, E-coli fermented in my kitchen?

“It puts my children, myself and my partner at risk. Those bacterias are dangerous in adult life. Imagine what they can do to a young child that hasn’t yet had their immunisations or a prematurely delivered baby fighting other health issues.”

Environment boss Coun. Howard Baker replied: “Burnley Council’s current service of providing a fortnightly residual waste service for residents is fully compliant with the government’s simpler recycling reforms. Burnley Council will be required to introduce a weekly food waste collection by April 2026. It is expected that residual bin usage will reduce.

“The government has confirmed no funding will be provided for councils wishing to reinstate weekly refuse collection. It would cost approximately £1m a year in Burnley.”

Coun. Baker also promised to get council staff to contact Mr Brooks to see if he was entitled to a larger ‘family sized’ bin.