Allerdale looks to increase kerbside recycling to meet targets

The best value inspection team judged the council's recycling and waste management service as &#39fa;ir' and said it would “probably improve”. Although recycling has been below average in the district a series of pilot kerbside collections have improved the recycling rate and the council is now looking at expanding the service to meet targets.

Allerdale recycled about 5% of household waste in 1999/2000, which is average compared with similar councils using wheeled bins. But with 400 square miles to cover, the inspectors noted that Allerdale's recycling costs are potentially high although it said that it should achieve its recycling targets of 10% in 2003/2004 and 18% in 2005/2006.

But there is room for improvement with recycling facilities in Allerdale recording only 61% satisfaction, which was the second lowest of the Cumbria councils.

The best value inspectors said: “The council is collaborating with Cumbria County Council and other districts in producing a Waste Strategy. The recycling rates should meet statutory targets and overall we believe the service will probably improve and move it into the top 25%.”

Allerdale is looking to expand its kerbside collection of paper which uses 120 litre wheeled bins. The scheme runs in a number of areas including Keswick, Cockermouth and Workington. The council currently receives a guaranteed payment of 30 per tonne and 18 per tonne recycling credit and considers the scheme to be viable.

Unstable

Although the council has established a local market for as much paper as it can supply, it has found the market for recyclables generally unstable which has hampered its recycling services.

The council also offers 18,000 free bulky collections a year. But the demand for the collections is very high and although there is normally a two week waiting time, residents have had to wait for up to four weeks for collection. Refrigerators, freezers and other white goods are collected as part of the domestic bulky refuse service and taken for recycling.

To improve the service, the inspection team said that the authority should now establish a clear policy for charging for bulky items and set clear service targets and waiting times for collections.

The council also runs a kerbside collection of green waste which serves 2,000 properties and has a large number of bring sites that collect glass, paper, cans and textiles. The county council also has two civic amenity sites where residents can take household waste for disposal and recycling, but the council considers this inadequate and has set-up a mobile &#39c;runch' service to supplement the civic amenity sites.

The inspectors said that the council should now work on waste minimisation, reuse and recycling in planned corporate procurement policy.