Major bin collection change for one area of Merseyside leaves people worrying about rats and chaos

To balance its budget from April 2026, Wirral Council has been looking at a number of options for cost-cutting. This includes a review of bin collections in light of government-mandated changes to include the recycling of more dry materials as well as food waste.

A recent council report said: “This review will consider operational savings, environmental impact, and resident needs, supported by a comprehensive communications and engagement plan.”

Food waste collections are being brought in across England and have to be provided from April 2026. The additional cost of this is expected to be £2.9m though the council has been supported with some extra government funding.

However at a recent meeting, the borough’s Conservative leader Cllr Jeff Green suggested one of the options being considered was moving rubbish collections to three weeks arguing this “would be a huge mistake”. This could be one of a number of options being considered.

A Wirral Council spokesperson said: “The focus is firmly on the introduction of Simpler Recycling measures in 2026, which will begin early in the year with an extension of the range of items that can be recycled in residents’ grey bins.

“The introduction of weekly food waste collections will follow shortly afterwards. People should keep a look out for further information in the new year.

“At the moment, no other changes to how household waste is collected in Wirral are planned.”

The current budget for the council’s street cleaning and waste collection contractor is around £16m a year. This is the equivalent of around 0.003% of the council’s budget whereas the council’s adult social care and health department, the biggest pressure facing services, makes up 35%.

For many, bins is what they see their council tax paying for. Sarah McKay said: “That is ridiculous”, adding: “Your council tax is going up every year and you find you get less”.

Others did not feel the amount of food that would be recycled would mean their green bin lasts another week between collections. For those with families, they wanted to know what the changes would mean for them, particularly those with medical waste, nappies, or dog poo to dispose of.

Janet-Anne Skillen said: “It does not seem like enough especially during the summer.” She was concerned there was not enough education about what should go in the recycling bin telling her bins were not collected after they became contaminated with non-recyclable materials.

She added: “The rats, that is what worries me. Three weeks, it seems like chaos.”

Derek Cowley said he would not mind it if his grey bin was picked up less as this did not get filled but he “wouldn’t be terrible happy” about a similar move for his green bin. Overall though, he said: “It’s good. They come more or less the same time every day.”

Many people welcomed the changes, particularly the new food waste collections even if they had concerns. One woman, Norma, said: “We hired a cottage in Wales and they had this little food caddy. I thought it was terrific and any used food went in it. I thought that was a great idea.”

However while Delilah Hornbuckle, a geography teacher, said she was passionate about the environment, she felt any move to a three-weekly collection at the same time as major changes like new food waste collections could make things worse.

She said: “What are people going to do? They are going to throw it all in one,” adding: “It disincentivises people to make really quick fix, accessible changes to their lifestyle in terms of being more green.

“It makes it harder to do those daily changes that would be quite easy for everyone to do.”