Brent plots major overhaul of waste collections

The London borough of Brent has unveiled plans to overhaul its waste operations by moving to alternate weekly collections and introducing commingled kerbside recycling, in a move it claims could save it £1.02 million a year on treatment and disposal costs by 2012/13.

The proposed changes, which were approved by the council's executive last week (August 11), come as the result of a review of the local authority's waste strategy which aims to help deliver long-term savings above £1 million-a-year, offer “radical improvements” to the council's collection service and increase its recycling rate.

However, the report backed by the executive admits that, despite the planned changes, Brent is “unlikely” to reach its target of a 60% household recycling rate, with modelling suggesting the rate will jump from the 28% achieved in 2009/10 to 53% by 2014/15 but then stop increasing.

This has contributed to criticism of the Labour executive's proposals by the Liberal Democrat opposition, who have called for a “serious debate” on the planned changes – which they claim do not do enough to increase what can be recycled.

Collections

The report explains that currently, 80,000 households in Brent receive weekly residual waste collections using wheeled bins and a compulsory kerbside separated recycling collection using a green box.

Of these, 60,000 households also receive a weekly collection of food and garden waste and cardboard using a wheeled bin, while around 25,000 flats receive bulk bin collections of residual waste and some flats have access to bring site collections of recycling

But, under the proposals approved last week, the council, working with its contractor Veolia Environmental Services, aims to change the service for low-rise properties to involve a fortnightly collection of residual waste – with a no side-waste policy.

On the alternate week, householders will receive a commingled recycling collection, including cardboard which is currently collected alongside food and garden waste, as well as mixed plastics and tetrapaks.

At the same time, the weekly collections of food and garden waste will be expanded to cover all 88,000 households, who will all receive a kitchen caddy, although the new 28,000 households will receive a food waste collection only.

Meanwhile, the council's current recycling service for flats will be extended to all flatted properties, with a move to commingled collections alongside the delivery of “some refuse” to a dirty materials recycling facility (MRF).

As the council launched plans to consult residents on the plans, Michael Read, assistant director of environment and culture at Brent council, commented: “In future residents will have more space to recycle as small green boxes are replaced with larger wheelie bins.

“We want to get opinions on everything from ease of access to the type of material collected. Under the new proposals there will be very little of what we might have called ‘rubbish' as most of what we throw away can be recycled,” he added.

Savings

The council claims that, while its waste strategy review had aimed to identify £1.2 million a year in savings from its environmental services, including £500,000 for waste collection and disposal, the results mean that changes to the waste service could deliver the vast majority of the overall annual savings goal on its own.

Modelling in the report suggests that, if the changed service was introduced in July 2011 as planned, 2011/12 would see little change in the council's waste service costs – saving just £12,000 to take them to £13.901 million compared to a ‘no change' scenario which involves the service staying as it is – but would increase its recycling rate to 43.2%.

And, it claims that after this, while under the ‘no change' scenario, treatment costs would continue to rise, under the proposed changes they would fall, bringing about a drop in the council's total waste management costs from £13.901 million in 2011/12 to £13.750 million in 2012/13.

The council notes that it has compared this with the current method involving the additional cost of £255,000 from 2012/13 onwards for the replacement of 10 organic waste vehicles not provided for in the current contract, explaining that: “The replacement of these vehicles is still required in the proposed method and therefore will be met from the forecast savings.”

The report explains that the estimated £1.4 million capital cost of new vehicles is expected to be initially met by Veolia, before they are transferred at depreciated value to either Brent or any incoming contractor in the future.

Similarly, it expects the £1.7 million capital cost of new containers needed for the new service to be financed through a leasing arrangement over seven years to avoid a significant “up front” capital outlay.

Opposition

The proposals have come under fire from the Liberal Democrat opposition in Brent, who claimed that the Labour executive was attempting to bring through a “huge policy change when many people are away on holiday”.

Councillor Ann Hunter, Liberal Democrat spokeswoman for the environment in Brent, said: “Liberal Democrats in Brent have always pushed for an increase in recycling. Bringing in compulsory recycling was hugely successful in that regard. What needs to happen now is a focus on improving what can be recycled, not what you can't thrown away. When people return from their holidays, Labour will have some explaining to do.”

The council's proposals are open for consultation until October 2010, after which the procurement of new bins, vehicles and treatment capacity will be put to the executive for approval in November 2010.

The council aims to implement the changes over the next year, with a view to bringing in the new collection services in July 2011.