List of councils running fortnightly collections

Smells and flies apart, there seems to be no strong health argument against fortnightly rubbish collection.

Leaving domestic refuse for two weeks certainly multiplies odours. Rotting fish, for example, produces five times as intense a smell in two weeks as it does in one, and rotting potatoes nearly thirty times.

While bad smells are unpleasant, they do not have any direct affect on health. Flies are also likely to be more numerous, because a fly’s egg develops into an adult fly in between seven and fourteen days.

Both these effects are far more likely in the summer, according to a report prepared for Wycombe Council by Enviros Consulting and Cranfield University. Both can be minimised by ensuring that rubbish is wrapped securely and stored in bins with properly fitting lids.

The World Health Organisation recommends weekly rubbish collection in temperate climates because of the risk that flies may proliferate and spread disease-causing organisms. But evidence that this is a serious cause of disease in Britain is lacking. Rats live mostly in sewers, and like unkempt gardens and empty houses. Properly stored domestic rubbish should not attract them, and the effect of fortnightly collection is likely to be insignificant compared with other factors such as broken drains.

Some disease-causing organisms such as Apergillus fumigatus,a fungus-like organism, can be carried in the air. Fortnightly collection can increase the amounts released by domestic rubbish, though the health risk – of asthma, rhinitis, or other lung diseases – is to the dustmen.

Storing waste indoors for more than a week does lead to a three to eightfold increase in concentrations of these microbes, but there is no direct evidence of damage to health. People with lowered immune responses would be the most likely to suffer.

The key, says Andrew Griffiths, of the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health Officers, is good communication between councils and residents.

“Councils should tell residents how rubbish should be stored, and provide the right equipment to do it,” he said.

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