Government

Rochdale recycling to go three-weekly

Rochdale Borough Council (RBC) Cabinet has agreed to switch from alternate weekly collections of residual waste and recycling to three-weekly collections, in a bid to increase recycling and save money.

Rochdale recycling to go three-weekly

Currently, the council provides an alternate weekly collection of residual waste and co-mingled recycling (plastic, cans, glass, and foil) to 88,000 properties in the borough. Around 65,000 properties also receive fortnightly paper and card collections (in bins ranging from 140 litres to 240 litres), while there is also an opt-in garden and food waste service (collected fortnightly in 240-litre bins).

This service reportedly costs the authority approximately £17.5 million every year and has resulted in an overall recycling rate of 34.5 per cent (for the year 2014/15). This is lower than the English average of 43 per cent.

Although RBC states that its current service is compliant with new TEEP regulations and ‘can withstand any challenge by the UK government in relation to any supposed breach’, the council has deemed that the current service is unsustainable, as it will not raise recycling rates to a high enough level to reach European recycling targets (50 per cent by 2020) and will put the council under financial pressure, in a time of increasing budget cuts.

As such, the Environment Management Service has an in-year savings target of £1 million from 2015/16, and it is hoped that moving to less frequent collections of recycling and waste will deliver these savings.

New collection service details

The cabinet therefore agreed earlier this week that, subject to public consultation, in ‘autumn 2015’ it will move to a new service that involves three-weekly collections of waste and recyclables (both the mixed recycling and paper/card containers).

To further boost the recycling rate, the authority has also agreed to target food waste. It will thus be making the opt-in garden and food waste service a weekly collection and will be introducing a new weekly food waste service, which will involve a 23-litre food waste bin and a five-litre food waste caddy.

It is estimated that the new caddies and bins will cost approximately £1.3 million and require a revenue investment of approximately 440,000 in 2015/16 to pay for the food waste collection service. However, the service is expected to increase the recycling rate to 39 per cent in 2015/16, rising to 45 per cent in 2016/17, which would be ‘sufficient to deliver the £1 million savings target’ and ‘avoid an estimated £637,000 of additional waste disposal costs’ for that year.

Changes could lead to financial savings whilst increasing customer satisfaction’

Writing about the proposals in a report to the cabinet, Councillor Jacqui Beswick, portfolio holder for housing and environment at RBC, stated: ‘Like all councils, RBC is facing increasing financial pressure alongside needing to consider the requirement to meet future legislation and targets. These changes are required to deliver a significant reduction in collection and disposal costs in line with the proposed Waste Management Strategy.

‘The adoption of a waste collection policy is required if the service is to operate more efficiently and consistently in the future [and] the proposed changes are expected to lead to financial savings whilst increasing customer satisfaction in the service.’

She added: ‘A number of waste and recycling collection options were considered in the original waste service review and consulted upon… This proposal provides the best chance of the council being able to deliver the financial savings required from a reduction in waste disposal (levy) costs and at the same time improve its recycling rates.

‘In-depth research of local and national best practice has shown that this new proposed model is best placed to enable the council to meet its future challenges and aspirations in the medium and long term.’

Speaking to Resource, Martin Taylor, Head of Environmental Services, added: “Heavy disposal charges mean that at the moment it costs £10 every time the council collects a general waste bin which works out at £306.62 per tonne. If the council does not increase recycling and reduce the amount of general waste, the total cost of waste disposal could increase by as much as £2 million by 2016/17. The council needs to make big savings over the next two years which means we need to do things differently. The changes will see recycling rates increase rapidly and reduce the cost of disposal – helping to save council taxpayers money to make better use of funds which could be spent on other essential public services. This improved service will provide residents with two collections per week instead of one.”

Consultation opens tomorrow

The proposed changes will open for public consultation for a month starting tomorrow (3 July), and if approved, the new service is expected to start in October. Local news outlet Rochdale Online reports that the plans could face opposition from local residents, though, with some exhibiting ‘anger and concern’, and starting an online petition calling on the council to scrap the plans.

Taylor added: “We are shortly going out to consultation, encouraging residents to have their say on how the introduction of the new recycling service can be implemented with the least amount of disruption to households. I urge residents to read the details of the service change and send us their views on how we can make delivering this new service a smooth transition for everyone. Responses and suggestions will be considered before decisions are made on how to deliver the new waste service.”

A number of UK councils have already committed to or started three-weekly residual waste collections, including GwyneddBury and Falkirk. These councils have made the change to increase recycling, and to reduce the amount spent on waste treatment and disposal costs.

Read more about three-weekly waste collections.

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