Resident conducts his own survey through Nextdoor app to see whether people in Milton Keynes really want four wheelie bins

A determined resident has conducted his own survey to find out whether households in MK really want four wheelie bins each for their waste and recycling.

Nigel Bailey sent his survey out 1,100 people via the Nextdoor app and Facebook.

He asked people what they thought about the council’s plan to transform rubbish and recycling collections in September.

From that date, each household will then receive four different wheelie bins - a green-lidded one for food and garden waste, a blue-lidded one for plastic, metals and glass, a red-lidded one for paper and card, and a bin with a grey lid for residual waste.

Nigel’s survey prompted 205 replies. These showed 68% of respondents were not happy to use four wheelie bins and 41% felt they do not have space to place all the bins ready for collection.

Some 83% were unhappy that the Milton Keynes City Council is spending £6 million on new bins and 93% did not think the bins would be a good solution for the disabled, elderly, or those with medical conditions.

Three quarters of the respondents said they did not have a major issue with the current collection of domestic waste, while 83% said they did not expect to do significantly more recycling under the new system.

Nigel said: “I’ve been reliably informed by a survey expert that 200 responses to any sort of survey is considered statistically sound, and that a response in excess of 10% is considered good. 20%, which this survey achieved, is therefore far better than good.

"If 75% have no major issues with the current service, then that implies that there is no clear mandate for the council to adopt such a radical approach.

"If 83% feel that the spending of £6 million on new bins is not acceptable, then the council maybe should be looking for better ways to spend residents’ money, and to keep people far better informed before making such big decisions.

“If 93% do not think that this a good solution for those who cannot manage a four bin system, then maybe the council should be working much harder to ensure that everyone who believes that they will struggle with the new bins is given a much easier solution.”

Currently, residents are asked to fill in a form if they don’t have room for the bins and council officials will visit them to assess their property.

Nigel said: “A simple system of free choice should maybe be offered, rather than residents having to prove what their difficulties are.”

His results contradict the council’s own formal public consultation, which ran for 12 weeks from November 2020 until January 2021.

Some 4,484 residents responded, says the council, and 76% were in favour of the use of wheeled bins.

They say 74% of respondents would accept more wheeled bins to improve recycling, while 71% thought wheeled bins would be easier to use than sacks.

Nigel believes the survey was “flawed” and fears the consequences.

“The council may well be about to create a potential major issue when bins are delivered and residents refuse to accept them. Even worse dozens of bins may be delivered and then left in inappropriate and illegal locations causing serious obstructions,” he said.