Michael Gove vows to force town hall chiefs to reintroduce weekly food bin collections

Town hall chiefs will be forced to reintroduce weekly food waste collections as the Tories begin their defence of thousands of council seats.

Firing the starting gun on campaigning for local elections in England, Environment Secretary Michael Gove is taking aim at the hated fortnightly collections that lead to flies and maggots infesting household bins.

Voters in more than 250 English local authority areas go to the polls on May 2 and 5,000 seats are up for grabs.

In a package of voter-friendly measures to be unveiled this week, Mr Gove will demand that all English councils collect food waste weekly.

He would also require all councils in England to provide a free green waste collection for households with gardens – a saving worth £120 a year.

At present, almost two-thirds of councils charge for the discretionary service, and Mr Gove’s measure could save householders more than £100 million every year.

The change will be funded by a new levy on businesses that use hard to recycle packaging, raising £1billion.  

In a bid to embarrass Labour and the SNP, which run garbage collection services in Wales and Scotland respectively, Mr Gove is to outlaw three and four-weekly bin collections, which the devolved administrations have allowed. 

And in another attempt to woo voters, he will demand uniformity over colours for rubbish and recycling bins.

Michael Gove is taking aim at the hated fortnightly collections that lead to flies and maggots infesting household bins. Voters in more than 250 English local authority areas go to the polls on May 2 and 5,000 seats are up for grabs [File photo]

Mr Gove said: ‘People want to recycle and it is our responsibility to make it as simple as possible for them to do the right thing.’

He added: ‘We are committed to going further and faster to reduce, reuse, recycle and cut waste.’

A Tory source said the proposed reforms will deliver on a pledge by former Local Government Minister Eric Pickles before the 2010 General Election that stated: ‘It’s a basic right for every English man and woman to be able to put the remnants of their chicken tikka masala in their bin without having to wait a fortnight for it to be collected.’

Meanwhile, Chancellor Philip Hammond is to launch a consultation this week on new taxes on plastics as the Tories bid to burnish their green credentials further.