Julie Anderson
Hill (Interim HOS Culture and Operational
Change) and 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.
Following the new
contract which began on 2nd Oct, over next few months
each household recycling centre (HRC) would be closed for a few
days at a time, to enable the old contractor to clear the site and
new contractor will be able to move in. Flyers available at the
meeting detailed the dates each site would be closed.
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:
- Would we be able to
recycle plastic categories 4 to 6? Answer: New service from 30 July
2018 would see a change in the way we collect our recyclables. Only
glass in the black box. We will be collecting plastic pots tubs and
trays, and the tetra packs all in blue bin. A full campaign would
be carried out nearer the time.
- What about plastic
packaging? Answer: Not plastic film. But plastic trays that fruit
and meat will come in will be able to be collected.
- WC stopped the grant to
the Burnbake charity, but they were still expected to provide goods
to them. Why do you charge charities to dump their excess rubbish
at the recycling centre? Answer: There were currently ongoing
discussion regarding this. We do recommend that charities only take
in items that can be refurbished, so that they are left with less
to dispose of at recycling centres.
- Can we recycle food
waste? Answer: We do not provide a separate collection at the curb
side for food waste. We do subsidise composters that do compost all
food waste. Details of these are available.
- The HRC open hours have
been reduced and we have we seen a consistent increase in fly
tipping as a result. Answer: Yes there
has been an increase in fly tipping however this reflects a
national increase. The HRC’s are for residents to take their
household waste, the fly tipped waste we see was of a commercial
nature where someone has paid a business to take waste away and
instead they fly tip it.
- The HRC was always busy
during the opening hours, with visitors having to queue to get in,
are you opening long enough and often enough? Answer: The changes
to the opening hours were a savings measure. They remained popular,
Churchfields is one of our more popular sites, and they are quieter
in the afternoon. We do not have the budget to pay for additional
hours. This year when the council set the budget it allocated
additional funding to allow three sites to open an additional day
of the week during the busiest months.