All-party support essential for effective recycling

And, it highlighted the need to be strict at the outset of delivering a scheme by reducing the size of residual waste bins and banning side waste.

The local authority posted the highest dry recycling rate in England in 2008/09 according to WasteDataFlow figures and pointed to the phased introduction of alternate weekly residual waste collections (AWC) as a key factor in boosting dry recycling rates.

Under the alternate weekly collection (AWC) system, residual waste is collected one week and dry recyclables the next.

The council also operates a four-day refuse collection week, which allows it to minimise disruption caused by Bank Holidays, and operates a commingled collection of dry recyclable material, such as, glass bottles and jars, paper and thin card, and plastic bottles.

In a case study, the council explained that it managed to introduce the system without issue as recycling was held as a key priority by all political factions and it also pointed to continued political support from a “committed and supportive portfolio holder”.

It said: “All-party support for the recycling scheme is essential to get an effective scheme in place.”
Worcester went from Conservative to No Overall Control following the 2007 local elections. However, the Conservatives retained the most seats in the local authority with 17 out of 35 and oversaw the introduction of AWC in the local authority area.

In 2004/05 the council had a 16.95% dry recycling rate and, following the phased roll-out of alternate weekly collections in the middle of 2005 ,this has grown by nearly 20% over four years.

Service

Worcester expanded its kerbside collection service from January 1 2010 to include Tetra Pak carton and thick cardboard, mixed plastics – such as yoghurt pots and food trays.

This follows the opening of the £10 million EnviroSort materials recycling facility by Severn Waste Services at Pershore to the south west of the city.

Worcester also advised other councils to have consistent promotion of the recycling service with council staff, collection crews and members of the public. And, it stated it was important to keep all involved aware of any changes to the service.

Furthermore, the council said that it had made efforts to work with those that “can't or won't use the scheme correctly” and stated it was important to ensure that “everyone recycles by the same rules”.