The councils environment and prosperity scrutiny committee is set to meet tomorrow (March 3) to discuss a report compiled by Ray Skipp, waste and recycling manager at the council, which outlines the steps needed to introduce a uniformed service.
All the three legacy council areas currently operate different waste and recycling collection services but they are all run in-house by Cheshire Easts collection team.
Cheshire East claims that the move to a uniform service could save it 726,000 under its 2011/12 budget, if the new service is successfully rolled out by the planned start date of October 3 2011. This saving would then rise to 1.29 million-a-year.
The report being considered tomorrow explains that, under the proposed new service, all householders would receive a fortnightly commingled dry recycling collection in either a silver 240 litre wheeled bin or 55 litre box.
This is in addition to a fortnightly collection of garden waste in a 240 litre wheeled bin and a fortnightly collection of residual waste – also in a 240 litre wheeled bin – with a strict no side waste policy.
Redesign
Furthermore, collection rounds would be redesigned to ensure that vehicles collecting one type of material i.e. dry recycling, garden waste or residual waste were in close proximity of each other. The use of zoned collections is intended to minimise inconvenience to residents.
The new service will operate out of two depots, one located at Commercial Road, Macclesfield, in the north of the local authority area and the other in the south at Pyms Lane in Crewe. The council said it would be seeking an alternative site to Commercial Road when possible.
It is intended the first phase of the roll-out, backed by a full communications plan, will be rolled out from May 9 2011 and cover the southern part of the Cheshire East authority area. This would be followed by bringing the northern half in line from October 3 2011.
Reduction
Under the plan, Cheshire East would reduce its frontline services staff and vehicles in operation. According to the council documents, 40 staff posts would be lost through cessation of work with agencies and voluntary redundancies, which would be carried out in line with councils wider workforce plans.
The council would also reduce the number of vehicles it operates, with 17 vehicles being removed from rounds.
According to the report document, the envisioned savings would be achieved through reduction in staff vehicle numbers, more efficient collection routes and contract arrangements procured by the council for the reprocessing of dry recyclables and garden waste.
In the report, Cheshire East acknowledges that the future disposal route of residual waste collected under the proposed scheme is currently unknown due to the withdrawal of PFI-funding for the councils joint long-term waste project with neighbouring council, Cheshire West and Chester council (see letsrecycle.com story).
Legacy
At present, householders in the Congleton area receive a multi-container collection with glass collected in a blue box, mixed plastic, cans and aerosols and paper and card collected in either a red box or a green bag. This is in addition to a brown wheeled bin for garden waste and a black wheeled bin for residual waste.
Related Links
In the Macclesfield area, householders can recycle cans, aerosols and glass in a 55 litre box and fibrous material in a plastic sack. Cardboard is left tied in a pile on top of the recycling box and there is also a bag for textiles. This is in addition to wheeled bins for garden waste and residual waste.
Meanwhile, residents in the former Crewe and Nantwich council area have a 240 litre silver wheeled bin for plastic bottles, card, metal tins and cans, a 240 litre green wheeled bin for paper and card, as well as wheeled bins for garden waste and residual waste.
Subscribe for free