Portsmouth bin changes: Residents say they are worried about new limits on rubbish

Councillors decided yesterday that by the end of this year all households can only leave out either one wheelie bin or three bin bags for general waste.

The permanent change comes after trials across various areas in the city resulted in a reduction of waste of up to 20 per cent

However, some locals fear the three bag cap would be difficult to meet. Mike Barter, 56, of Liverpool Road said: ‘I don’t think reducing it to three bags is a good idea. I think it is wrong. If there were piles and piles of it in the street that would be different, then maybe people should be taking it to the dump. But it’s not like that.

‘Some weeks you might only put out one bag and other times you might need more than three, it should be based on more of an average.

‘If the council did not take the rubbish I put out then I would just leave it there. This is what we pay our council tax for. We do recycle as much as we can, we do our best.’

Newcome Road in Fratton was one area which trialled the scheme. One resident of that road, 26-year-old Harley Burton, spoke to The News about the experience. She said: ‘It has made the situation a lot worse. Come Wednesday, the day before the bins are taken away, there are bags everywhere. And now if there are more than three per house it just gets left there.

‘It’s disgusting and smells bad, and you get maggots in the bags. Especially in this heat it’s really bad. All it means is that more rubbish gets left on the street.’

Her neighbour, university student Selina Goodorally, 22, added: ‘I think it’s a bad idea. As students we sometimes have a lot of rubbish as we live with a lot of people. We probably put out more than three bags a week.’

Kristiyantin Evans, 41, agreed. She said: ‘It’s not enough because I have two grown boys and they eat a lot of food. I cook a lot at home and that makes a lot of waste. Sometimes it is a struggle to only fill three bags.’

Newcome Road resident, 83-year-old Marie Thompson thought the change wasn’t a problem. ‘I think three bags is plenty. But it would be good to have a bigger recycling bin, I’ve only got a little one,’ she said.

But she was glad the council had ditched the idea of reusable ‘seagull bags’. She added: ‘It’s good news that they’re not using the seagull bags any more, they would blow about all over the place.’