Consultation on the new Waste Management Strategy and information on your local Household Recycling Centre.
Officer: Tracy Carter, Associate Director
Minutes:
Tracy Carter, Associate Director for Waste and Environment delivered information on the consultation for the new Waste Management Strategy, to shape how the Council collects and manages household waste and recycling. The Council had adopted a 10-year business plan, and would now produce a strategy to support delivery of that plan.
The Council was also carrying out a programme of refurbishment of its Household Recycling Centres (HRC). Churchfields would close for these refurbishments from 9th – 18th November, during that time the Amesbury and Warminster sites would remain open on their usual scheduled days.
Tracy then asked those present to take part in a multiple-choice question session, using a small number of questions selected from the consultation. Those responses were collected for consideration as part of the consultation.
For the full consultation about the Waste Management Strategy, please visit www.wiltshire.gov.uk/waste Closing date: 14th November 2017.
Questions and comments received included:
· Information on how the energy would be drawn from waste would be useful as it could influence the way in which we answer some of the questions. The consultation needs to be in a format so that it is straight forward enough for people to feel comfortable in taking part.
· There are a series of measures that have to be taken to reduce costs of the recycling operation, and there had been a decrease of recyclables from the previous year, was that a coincidence? – Answer: No, the main impact came from charging for the garden waste kerbside collection.
· One issue I expected to see was an increase in the type of materials we are able to recycle. - Answer: From June 2018, we would only be collecting glass in the black box, everything else would go into the blue lid bin, with the addition of plastic trays, tubs and pots. We would not however be able to recycle plastic film.
· As this was a rural area where there was a lot of fly-tipping, this would increase if the charges were introduced. Answer: Nationally there was an increase in fly tipping in areas that had some charges already as well as areas that did not. The majority of what was fly tipped was commercial waste, where the householder had paid someone to take it away and then they dump it.
· There was concern about the suggestion of penalties for inappropriate recycling. Answer: In terms of charges we would only charge the cost of the charges to dispose of that material. It would be subject to a Cabinet member decision so members could feedback at the time.
· Can householders put their paint tins in the household waste? Answer: We are aiming to work with households to assist everyone in recycling as much as possible. The paint tins are not normal domestic waste, and can be taken to the HRC.
· Was the cost of clearing up fly tipping covered by the Waste budget?
Answer: Particular types of materials like hazardous material was covered, however other waste when fly tipped was cleared as part of the street scene waste contract.
· When the Salisbury HRC site was closed for refurbishments, would the Amesbury site open all day every day? Answer: No it will only be open on its usual days.