Audit Commission inspectors also said that the council, near Nottingham in the East Midlands, had “excellent prospects for improvement”.
The Conservative-controlled council has set targets above its statutory requirements, for recycling and composting 42.7% of its waste by 2005-06. In addition to this, it has set a municipal waste recycling target of 27% by 2005.
In their report, inspectors wrote: “The Council is taking effective action to minimise waste to landfill and increase recycling – the wheeled bin has already enabled the Council to exceed its statutory recycling target for 2003-04.”
From its relatively low recycling rate of 8.8% in 2000-01, the council expects to reach 16% this year, 4% above its statutory target, and believes it is well on the way to its statutory target of 18% by 2005-06.
Twin bins
This is largely due to the success of a pilot twin bin and paper collection scheme which has been delivering a recycling rate of around 50% in its first six months of operations. A trial is planned for the rural parts of the borough in February 2003, and the council expects to allocate wheeled bins across the borough by March 2005.
Analysis of the borough's twin bin collection system found that around 37% of the waste collected was diverted from landfill. Of the waste that could not be recycled or composted, 80% went for energy recovery at a facility in Nottingham. The largest components of the waste were green waste (38%) and paper or card (25%). Inspectors said that the logical step for the council's strategy would be a separate collection for these.
The borough's green waste is handled by Waste Recycling Group, paper goes to Kappa Paper Recycling, glass to Berryman's and Reclaim collects and processes the borough's plastic.
Minimisation
Rushcliffe council, which serves 45,000 households in a mixture of urban and rural settings, was also praised for its waste minimisation measures. The council has set up a 'waste exchange', where one organisation's waste is offered as a raw material for another, has promoted reusable nappies and has set up community waste minimisation projects.
The community projects see 'Ec;o-teams' – groups of six to eight neighbouring households – working together to reduce waste and energy. A paid co-ordinator, funded for three years mostly through Landfill Tax Credits, has set up 15 teams in 98 households and one primary school. The teams are now recording an average reduction in waste of some 50%, inspectors noted.
One thing the inspectors criticised Rushcliffe for was the lack of a single document explaining the council's waste management service, strategy and targets to the public.
Subscribe for free