The Labour-controlled West Yorkshire borough, which has a population just over 320,000, currently recycles or composts around 7% of its waste. However, inspectors said that for the borough to reach its statutory 10% target by 2003 to 2004 and 18% by 2005 to 2006, the council will have to increase the number of recycling facilities available and tackle waste minimisation issues. According to the report, Wakefield residents produce “more refuse than the average for similar councils”.
Commenting on the report's findings, commission inspector Diane Neale said: “Important decisions have yet to be made about how the service will be delivered in the future. The council needs to remain focused on improving performance in line with planned time scales and ensuring that the service develops to meet local needs.”
At the moment, 35,000 households in the borough have been provided with an additional wheeled bin for garden waste, which are emptied once a month or fortnightly in summer months. The council also has seven household waste recycling centres collecting 43,000 tonnes a year and 54 bring banks for recyclable material.
Audit Commission inspectors criticised the council for only locating recycling facilities in “economically advantageous” positions and also condemned the council's lack of a municipal waste management strategy.
The report said that there were some signs of improvement, but that overall the picture is poor compared to other councils. It said: “Performance on recycling has been poor to date, with a high dependency on landfill, but is showing some signs of improvement. Refuse collection reliability has improved but remains poor in comparison with other councils. Customer satisfaction with waste collection and recycling facilities is low and collection costs are high.”
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