West Midlands: Your comments...

Nick Watson The Politics Show West Midlands

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Some of your comments on today's programme...

Calls

We pay for our rubbish collections now. We pay through our council tax for this very service!
Kenneth Duckworth, Rugby

We're already paying for our rubbish collection in our rates.
Mr Johnson, Wolverhampton

If people have to pay for their rubbish to be taken away, then people will dump it in the countryside. Every lay-by will be filled with rubbish.
Mrs Ford, Coventry

The rubbish collection in Solihull is terrible. I live in a block of flats and all we have are great big bins. It's dreadful.
Joan, Solihull

This is just another scheme through which our Members of Parliament will be able to write off as expenses for the job they do - which I would class as rubbish!
Vincent, Leicestershire

We already pay for the collection of our rubbish through council tax, so additional charges aren't on.
Les, Warwick

Am I wrong? I always thought rubbish collection was part of what we pay as council tax. If so, can they please reduce our council tax - then I will pay.
Brenda Wheeler, Worcester

This isn't a free service, we already pay for it through our council tax, and the current service here in Telford is terrible.
Mrs Bannister, Telford E-Mails

I think it is unfair to be charged to recycle. If this was to come about, all the waste we have will simply go into one bin and they can take the green bins back. At least then I could get my money's worth when they have to sort the rubbish themselves.
Ken, Wolverhampton

I'm totally opposed to charging for the removal of green waste. We already compost as much as we can and our rates are too high.
Marie Howard, England

This bin tax is nothing more than an extra tax to assist Bromsgrove District Council to balance their incompetent book keeping!
Stan Francis, Bromsgrove

It's quite simple. We're already paying for it. We hear a lot about what the consumer can do, but why aren't similar requirements being used with businesses? Maybe because so-called Labour doesn't want to upset its paymasters.
Paul Higgins, Tamworth

What is all this talk of free refuse collection! We have always paid for the service within our rates as before, or council tax now. Are we to be charged again on top of our already hideously high local taxes? I certainly wouldn't be prepared to pay more.
Beverley Hardy, England

Charging for rubbish collection is a bad idea. Apart from the immense technical difficulties and costs, it will encourage anti-social people to fly-tip or slip their rubbish into other people's bins.
Keith O'Neill, England

What do you mean by "free" rubbish collection? Poll tax already pays for it. If the EU is going to fine councils, why don't they just ignore the EU directive?
Richard Edwards, England

Residents already pay for the collection of green bins in their council tax. It looked from your pictures as though the council was processing vast quantities of compost, my query is, what do they do with the end product? Do they sell it? Do they use it on regional landscapes, parks & gardens etc? I have no doubt that it processes into a valuable resource for the council and it would be interesting to see figures on either cost savings and or profit from reselling a finished product. If they are not doing any of these things then they ought to be!
Ed Morse, England

As a Bromsgrove resident of many years, I have had to put up with the Council changing to a fortnightly "refuse" collection - not recommended by various agencies because of vermin and other health problems. Our jolly old council then said "don't worry! We'll replace one week's collection with a green bin for your garden refuse and black and red recycling boxes for your papers, tins plastics and glass. Now they're saying can't do green bins any more it's costing too much!

Costing us too much as council tax payers I say! We help the council look good by meeting government recycling targets and what do we get in return - bigger council tax bills and the opportunity to pay for our green bin collection - how nice! Are we going to get our weekly refuse collections brought back again - I don't think so! And what are the schemes we, the council tax payers, would rather the council spend our money on? Perhaps the members of the council under investigation regarding their expenses would like to comment on where our money is going?
Anon, Bromsgrove

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