To receive a presentation from Tracey Carter, Head of Waste Services, Wiltshire Council, on upcoming changes to the way waste and recycling is collected in Wiltshire, including collection day changes.
Minutes:
Cllr James Sheppard arrived at 7.40pm.
Martin Litherland, Head of Service, Waste Management, Wiltshire Council, gave a presentation on upcoming changes to the way waste and recycling was collected in Wiltshire.
Wiltshire Council was changing the way they collected waste, moving to co-mingled collection for recycling, this system had been proven to be successful in many areas of the country. Collections would still be fortnightly, although as a consequence of the changes, some collection days would change. Residents would be notified by post several weeks in advance of any changes to collection days. Once residents had received this letter they would also be able to view changes online and print a calendar if they wished. It was expected that changes would be implemented in the new year.
Under the new system, glass and textiles would still go in the black box. Anything else recyclable could go in the blue lidded bin. Examples of items that could go in the blue lidded bin were plastic bottles, pots, tubs, trays, cardboard boxes, food and drink cartons, paper, food and drink cans, aerosols and foil.
It was requested that people rinse and squash items if possible. Rinsing the items helped to maintain the quality of the materials and squashing them simply means you can fit more in the bin.
The black box would still be used for glass. The reason glass would still be kept separate was that the re-processors like to have it separate to prevent glass shards getting into other recycling. The collection vehicles have a separate pod for glass. Textiles could also be put in the black box however these must be begged up and the bag tied. Unfortunately duvet’s and sleeping bags could not be recycled.
The Council did not make a profit from recycling, however money raised from recycling helped to offset the cost of collecting waste.
Hopefully the proposed changes would make it easier for residents to recycle and should therefore increase recycling rates. The changes would also mean that one vehicle could collect all recycling. This meant that Wiltshire Council could get rid of about 38 vehicles from the road, which in itself would help to reduce carbon emissions and costs.
A new materials recovery facility was being built in Calne, which would sort the mixed recycling.
Residents could sign up for email alerts from the waste service at http://www.wiltshire.gov.uk/rubbish-and-recycling-collection-changes in order to be kept up to date with developments. You could also register to get a larger bin or an extra bin at this address.
If parishes and community groups required advice or help regarding spreading the news about the changes they were welcome to email: wasteandrecycling@wiltshire.gov.uk.
Details were given regarding the End Destination Charter, which was a voluntary scheme developed by the Resource Association to promote openness and transparency over end destinations of waste. Wiltshire Council had signed up to this scheme and published annual reports on line at: http://www.wiltshire.gov.uk/what-happens-to-recycling.
In response to questions it was stated that Wiltshire Council had an officer whose role was to look at the Climate Emergency and ideas regarding the reduction of carbon emissions. It was stated that a report was due to come to full council regarding measures taken so far to address the Climate Emergency. With regards to Area Boards, the council wanted to encourage local people to take actions locally. Pressure could be put on large companies to change their packaging if people changed their buying habits, consumer pressure tended to be more effective than pressure from local government. Some Area Boards had set up climate change action groups and the Chairman stated that Marlborough Area Board would look into setting one of these up. The Chairman also thanked the Jubilee Day Centre for providing the refreshments and washing the crockery as this saved the area board using single use cups and therefore reduced waste.
In response to other questions it was stated that you could order new lids for recycling boxes online.
Duvets could not at present be recycled as there was no sustainable market for these. Duvets could be taken to household recycling centres, where they would not be recycled but would be used to create energy.
The new measures had been put in place to maximise recycling and reduce waste going to landfill. Although there would be cost savings made that was not the reason for the exercise.
Food waste was an issue that came up a lot. Unfortunately the cost of collecting food waste from residents was prohibitive. Other authorities that provided this service found that at the start the rates of food waste collected were very high. However, people then realised how much food they were wasting and started to shop smarter, so rates would drop off considerably. Central Government was very keen on collecting food waste though so it was possible that this would become mandatory, although it was not yet clear how this would be costed.
The Environment Bill was announced earlier in 2019, see https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/environment-bill-2019 for details. Part of this involved consulting on mandatory packaging taxes on companies that use hard to recycle products. The income created from this was then to flow through to local authorities to fund collections and infrastructure, so there was the potential for great change, but nothing definite yet.
The Chairman thanked the officer for his presentation, he welcomed the fact that the service was being improved and encouraged people to exert their pressure as consumers.