All residents in Wiltshire will soon be able to recycle all their plastic bottles and cardboard from the kerbside, including: drinks bottles, cleaning bottles, cereal boxes and cardboard sleeves.
A senior officer from Waste Management will attend the board meeting to give more details and answer residents’ questions about this new service.
Minutes:
Martin Litherland, Head of Waste Collection, explained that when Wiltshire had become a Unitary Council it had inherited four very different collection services from the District Councils. West Wiltshire had been one of the best performing regarding recycling, which could be seen as an indication that fortnightly collections were successful.
The statutory target for recycling had been met for 2010, but there was little room for improvement if the existing services were maintained. The statutory target for 2020 was for 50% of waste to be recycled. The landfill tax for the previous year was £12M and was predicted to increase to over £17M by 2015 if nothing changed. At present a ton cost £56, which would increase to £80 by 2014.
Wiltshire Council was now focusing on increasing recycling, diminishing the amount of waste being sent to landfill and standardising the level of services across the County. The enhanced recycling service would be rolled out in November 2011, and in the lead up to that time information would be circulated in different ways such as:
· Briefing notes for Wiltshire Councillors;
· Explanatory notes sent to Town and Parish Councils;
· Leaflets sent to all residents of Wiltshire from 4 July informing them of the new services, then a leaflet in August explaining how to use the new services;
· Collection calendars would then be distributed three weeks before the new bins would be delivered. As quite a number of household were likely to have a collection day change there would be television and radio announcements.
· There was strong lobbying aiming to stop non-recyclable plastics being used and produced.
In answer to questions raised at the meeting points including the following were clarified:
· At this stage all households would be provided with a blue lid bin; individual assessments would take place if residents should have problems accommodating the bin or would require assisted collection. However it should be noted that the alternative receptacles were very small and could present a Health and Safety issue at the time of collection. It could be an option for neighbours to share a bin.
· It was often difficult to identify a suitable location for a central point for collection in small villages, but the idea was not being ruled out. As part of the improvements being put in place the Waste Team was reviewing the existing “bring sites” as they unfortunately were often used as “dump sites” and could be hard to maintain clean and safe to use.
· There were no plans to charge for Garden Waste collection and West Wiltshire residents would not need to re-register as it would be an “opt-in” service. An option would be built in to allow residents to contact Wiltshire Council and have their Garden Waste collected should they no longer require it.
Vicky White, Waste Project Officer, invited Town and Parish Council to contact her and she would be happy to attend meeting and give more details of the new services.
She also drew the meeting’s attention to the existing subsidised composter scheme and encouraged people to browse the Wiltshire Council website for further information on the new services, existing schemes and helpful hints and tips on recycling.