Since April 1, Biffa has been using different vehicles for the kerbside collection and emptying of dry recycling boxes from Ashfords properties.
According to the council, this should help the authority to improve on its reported recycling, reuse and composting rate of 14% and ditch its Englands worst recycling council tag.
Biffa expects the service will help Ashford bottom of the national recycling charts for the last three years to exceed a 50% recycling and composting rate once the new service is established, and to be in the upper quartile of Defras performance table in 2014.
An 86 million, ten-year contract was awarded to Biffa last October by the Mid Kent Joint Waste Partnership, comprising Ashford, Maidstone and Swale Borough Councils (see letsrecycle.com story) to deal with refuse collection and street cleansing. According to partnership, the councils could save more than 2.6 million over the lifetime of the contract.
Under the contract with Biffa, the firm will provide uniform alternate week collections of residual waste and of a wide range of commingled dry recyclables in wheeled bins in the county. It will also carry out weekly collections of food waste in kitchen caddies and an optional subscription-based garden waste collection service.
‘We know that Ashford has fallen behind the rest of the country, and we have a duty to catch up.’
Jessamy Blanford, Ashford borough council
In Maidstone, the contract will enable residents to put glass bottles and jars in their current recycling bins, along with more plastics and food and drink cartons. By recycling all of these extra items, over 50% of the boroughs rubbish will be recycled by 2015.
Swale already operates an alternate week collection of residual waste and dry recyclables, as well as a subscription-based garden waste service. However, the Biffa service will see the introduction of fully commingled dry recyclable collections incorporating glass, which is currently collected in a separate box, as well as a new weekly food waste service.
Duty to catch up
Ashford borough councillor Jessamy Blanford, portfolio holder for environment, said: We know that Ashford has fallen behind the rest of the country, and we have a duty to catch up. The new recycling and refuse service will bring Ashfords recycling performance from 14% to 37% by 2014/15, and potentially higher in the future.
We are extending our existing recycling service to every household in the borough, as well as increasing the number of items that can be recycled, which will see our figures improve.
She said that nine out of the ten English councils with the best recycling rates in the country currently use the same type of collection system being rolled out in Ashford by Biffa.
I am confident that, in partnership with our residents, we shall see a marked improvement in our recycling rates over the next few years.”
Ashford rolls out its full new service in July, followed by Maidstone in August, and then Swale in in February 2014.
Register for free to comment