The West London borough voted to bring collections back under local authority control at a meeting of the council’s cabinet yesterday (September 22) – ahead of the end of its contract with Suez next year.
Other changes include plans to cut the frequency of refuse collections from weekly to fortnightly, and the launch of a £50-per-year green waste collection service from April 2016.
‘Stagnant’
Hounslow has cited its ‘stagnated’ recycling rate of 34-36% and the need to save £2.1 million in waste and recycling costs in light of central government funding cuts as reasons behind the changes.
The overhaul is envisaged to increase recycling in the borough by 15% by 2018/19, leading to a reduction of 15,000 tonnes of waste that is sent to landfill each year and saving around £1.35 million in associated costs.
Transition
Suez – which has held the current Hounslow collection contract for seven years – has been awarded a 12-month extension of the contract until October 2016. It is expected to help the transition, with the new collection timetable to be rolled out next summer.
The decision to bring the service in-house meanwhile is expected to save around £500,000 a year and will give councillors ‘more control’ over the service being delivered.
Pension costs for staff have been highlighted as a factor in the decision, because the local authority would not need to make a profit. However, the council will also have to offer minimum wage staff the London Living Wage when they are transferred from Suez – at a cost to Hounslow of £400,000 per year.
Approving the change, the cabinet agreed to begin procurement processes for a permanent collection fleet to provide the new service.
Kerbside
The cabinet also noted ‘further work’ being carried out to decide whether recyclables should be collected every fortnight in a single 240-litre wheeled bin – as opposed to the current weekly kerbside sort system.
The work follows a TEEP assessment for the council carried out by Eunomia. The Hounslow report states the consultancy showed that commingled collections have ‘marginally less benefit’ compared to kerbside sort. But, it is predicted that a switch to commingled collections could increase the participation in recycling schemes by householders.
A switch from kerbside sort to commingled has already been rubber-stamped by the neighbouring London borough of Ealing, scheduled to be introduced from Spring 2016 despite the threat of legal action under TEEP (see letsrecycle.com story).
A report presented to the cabinet states: “We have looked at the best performance levels in London and in neighbouring authorities and believe that these changes will simplify the recycling collection service which will encourage occasional and non-recyclers to participate in the council’s recycling schemes.”
‘Standardise’
“Our new system would replicate what most other local authorities are doing in West London and will help to standardise collection systems across the area. We anticipate that the changes will be rolled out next year, beginning July 2016 and be completed in October just before the change from private contractor to in-house service.”
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