Decision details

To seek approval for new charges for commercial waste recycling and for waste collected from charities in the south of the county.

That:

(i)         The proposed fees for commercial and Schedule 2 recycling services set out in the attached Schedule be approved for the purposes of implementing pilot schemes for the collection and management of commercial cardboard in the south of the county and the collection of commercial recyclables (black box) in the east of the county.

(ii)      The policy of charging charities for the collection of residual waste in accordance with Schedule 2 of the Controlled Waste Regulations 1992 be applied to charities in the south of the county.

The Council’s review of its commercial waste service has identified a number of variations in service delivery which need to be harmonised.  At its meeting on 28 February 2012 Council considered a report on Wiltshire Council’s Business and Financial Plan Update 2012-13.  Appendix 1 to that report contains the Wiltshire Council’s Financial Plan 2012-13 which refers to the review of commercial waste undertaken in 2011 and the proposal that the full cost of providing the service should be applied. 

To:

(i)         Charge on the basis of full cost recovery for commercial cardboard collections and collection cost recovery for Schedule 2 cardboard collections in the south of the county or withdraw the service.

(ii)        Charge on the basis of full cost recovery for commercial dry recyclable (black box) collections and collection cost recovery for Schedule 2 dry recyclable collections in the east or withdraw the service.

(iii)       Charge for residual waste collections from charities in the south of the county in accordance with Schedule 2 of the Controlled Waste Regulations 1992.

A comparison with fees and charges imposed by the private sector for similar services was not possible due to the very different pricing mechanisms involved.  Councils primarily adopt a fixed schedule of charges that apply to all customers.  Private sector companies prefer to tailor pricing to the particular customer (which enables them to take factors such as distance travelled into account).

In order that some form of benchmarking data could be used to test the reasonableness of Wiltshire’s proposed charges, an examination of charges levied by other councils was undertaken.  Relatively few councils provide a commercial recycling service and even fewer provide information on charges on their websites for ease of access.  However, for six councils that do provide such services and data the range of charges was between £71 and £160 per annum (compared with £110.50 for Wiltshire cardboard labels) with a mean of £115.50.