A task group made up of council leaders and environmental portfolio holders is due to meet today (November 26) to discuss what might be done conurbation-wide to help reduce waste and boost recycling, with the potential reduction of residual waste capacity on the agenda.
John Bland, treasurer and deputy clerk at the Greater Manchester Waste Disposal Authority, told letsrecycle.com that council leaders had set up the informal group in the summer to look at what needed to be done in relation generally to waste.
“Leaders are quite keen to push forward this agenda as it is good for the environment, saves money and is the right thing to do”, he said.
“If we come up with a scheme to deliver that [Bury’s] model and all the districts in Greater Manchester adopted it that seems like a good idea. I think it is gaining traction as the right approach. Bury has effectively gone early on it. Others then potentially might go for a variation on that or something quite similar.”
Formula
While Mr Bland stressed that any decisions would be down to individual authorities and nothing had been decided, he said there was a “fairly simple formula” to increasing recycling which he said had plateaued.
“What Bury did is come to a consensus that while we need to help people to understand the virtues of recycling and make it easy for them and also be aware of the income it provides, there a limit to how far that message will go. They are reducing the residual waste capacity and increasing the recycling capacity, so if people are not recycling they will have a problem.”
“Tell people why you need to do it and if people do not comply then you have to think about the stick. There is a point when telling people to recycle reaches the end and we are starting to see our recycling levels plateauing.”
Four-bin system
Waste collection is handled by individual metropolitan boroughs in Greater Manchester, but since the GMWDA – which handles waste disposal in the region – signed its landmark PFI contract with Viridor Laing in April 2009 (see letsrecycle.com story) services have been largely standardised under a four-bin system. This sees ‘pulpaples’ (paper, card and cartons) collected separately from other dry recyclables and additional collections for residual waste and commingled food and green waste.
A broad approach is also already being taken to communications in the metropolitan area, with an award-winning campaign run in Rochdale called ‘Right stuff. Right Bin’ which educates residents on what to put in their different recycling bins being currently rolled out across the conurbation.
Mr Bland said he expected Greater Manchester districts to achieve an average overall recycling rate of 46% in 2014/15 – including around 5% from recyclables extracted through MBT – and that Stockport is already recycling 63% and Trafford “should achieve 60%” this year. But equally he said there were some districts with recycling rates “in the 30s”.
Commenting on the potential to increase this further, he added: “We did waste analysis in 2011 which showed that 74% of waste is potentially recyclable but we only collected 41% of it last year.”
Bury
Mr Bland’s comments came as Bury prepared to hold a public event at the Mill Gate shopping centre tomorrow to publicise its recycling service and highlight what waste goes in what bin. Its three-weekly residual waste collection service was introduced from the second week of October 2014. Collections of dry recyclables are meanwhile carried out on a more regular basis, every three weeks instead of every four. The changes have been introduced in a bid to save £800,000 per year.
In a statement, the council said: “Council officers will be there with advice on what waste goes into which bin, what can and cannot be recycled, and practical help on how to make the most of the space in the grey (non-recyclable) bin”.
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