The majority of Britons would feel “very negative” if bin collections were changed to once every four weeks, a new poll has revealed.
Earlier this week, Green-led Bristol City Council announced they are considering reducing collection times to just once a month, a move they said could save them more than £2million a year.
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The major city currently has the highest recycling rate in England - at 45 per cent for household waste.
However, the council has said that this rate is now dropping so need to introduce a change to combat the downturn.
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A survey conducted by pollsters at YouGov has revealed that 80 per cent of Britons would feel negatively if their council altered their bin collection times.
Out of the 6,763 adults questioned, 61 per cent feel “very negative”, whilst 19 per cent feel “fairly negative”.
Nine per cent of those surveyed felt neither positively or negatively about altering the services, while two per cent said they “don’t know”.
For those in favour of the reduced collection times, six per cent were “fairly positive” and just three per cent “very positive”.
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The age group who were most against the changes were 50-64 year olds at 66 per cent, and the region in the fiercest opposition was South England, with 63 per cent of the vote.
Bristol City Council has started a public consultation on potential changes which will run until March 10.
Almost 2,000 people have so far signed a Labour-led petition against the idea.
Tom Renhard, leader of the local Labour group, said: “There needs to be a focus on sorting out the existing service. I'm getting an increasing number of complaints from local residents across the city that recycling isn't being collected and black bins aren't being collected on [the current] two-weekly basis.
He added: “Some of my residents haven't had a recycling collection this side of Christmas.”
In November, leaked documents first revealed that Bristol City Council could be making the cuts.
If implemented, the move would mark a significant shift in waste collection practices for Bristol residents, who currently receive bi-weekly black bin collections.
According to council documents, Bristol's waste and recycling service is facing additional costs of between £5million to £9million per year.
The rising expenses are attributed to changes in regulation, increasing operational costs, inflation and investment requirements.
The council warns that without cost reductions, they “may need to reduce services and performance standards”.
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