RAMSBOTTOM’S MP has sent out a survey to thousands of homes as part of a campaign against controversial bin collection changes.

It follows plans for householders in Bury to become the first in England to have their grey general waste bins emptied once every three weeks.

From October, under ambitious plans to create a ‘zero waste’ borough, grey bins will be collected every three weeks instead of fortnightly.

Green and blue recycling bins will be emptied once every three weeks instead of four, while brown bins will continue to be collected once every two weeks.

The council says the changes will boost recycling rates and achieve annual savings of £862,000 in waste treatment and disposal costs.

However David Nuttall, MP for Bury North, said people were given no say on the decision.

He said: “The council did nothing to find out what people would think of these changes before they went ahead and passed it.

“Our area is the first place in Britain to pass such changes. I want to collect some evidence about what people’s thoughts are and then deliver them to the council.”

More than 500 people have so far filled out the survey and returned their forms.

The 23-question survey includes such queries as ‘do you agree with the ruling?’, ‘how often do you feel that grey waste bin collections should be?’’ A spokesman for Bury Council said: “It’s vital that we increase recycling rates in Bury. It’s costing us £10.2million a year – around £28,000 a day – to treat and dispose of waste from grey bins, much of which could be recycled instead.

“Most households will continue to have a collection of at least one type of waste every week, and the total weekly bin space that residents will have across all their bins will not be any less than it is now. It’s about putting all the items that can be recycled into the recycling bins”