Merseyside council could overhaul bin collections and start only emptying them every three weeks

Wirral Council is reviewing its bin service as the local authority tries to balance the books next year.

Recent reports said the local authority was predicting a possible budget gap of £32.4m for its budget from April 2026 and a black hole of £67m over the three years after that. Savings put forward for next year only covered around £15m.

A funding announcement has been made by the government which could see the resources available to the council increase by £22m. This includes both council tax revenue and government support grants.

However in 2026, councillors are facing potentially requesting another government bailout to support services and avoid declaring bankruptcy. A recent report told elected members the risk of issuing a Section 114 notice remained high.

To balance the books, the council has been looking at a number of options. This includes a review of bin collections in light of changes to include the recycling of more dry materials as well as food waste.

A report presented to a policy and resources committee meeting on December 17 said: “To support compliance and financial sustainability, the council will review the current residual waste collection arrangements to determine the most effective approach. This review will consider operational savings, environmental impact, and resident needs, supported by a comprehensive communications and engagement plan.”

Cllr Jeff Green, who leads the borough’s Conservatives, said he had concerns about potential changes to bin collections, adding: “I do not support moving to a three-weekly bin collection cycle.

“I think that would be a retrograde step for everybody, every household in Wirral that has its bins collected, and I think it would be a huge mistake. It certainly wouldn’t be very welcome.”

He said there needed to be more engagement with the public and see what they think about a plan “to change what is a fundamental service and the one service that everyone in Wirral receives.”

Labour councillor Liz Grey, who chairs the committee overseeing the service, agreed there was a need to engage with the public over the issue but weekly food waste collections would be a “huge improvement”.

She said: “It was your Conservative government, the previous government, that actually mandated us to collect food waste and that’s what’s triggered so much of the changes we’re having in our collections.

“The proposals will actually lead to weekly collections so it’s going to be twice as often we’re going to have our food waste [collected], which is what most people worry about in terms of hygiene.”

The LDRS understands a number of different options could be being considered including reducing bin sizes. This is because less waste could be going into green bins as more is recycled.

Any changes that may be approved at a budget meeting in February would be expected to come into force some time after April 2026.