The council says its current strategy is nearly 20 years old and not fit for purpose.
A series of recommendations based on the findings of a consultation launched in January is to be put before Cheshire West and Chester council’s cabinet. These include a £40 per annum charge for garden waste collection.
Karen Shore, the council’s cabinet member for environment, highways and strategic transport, said: “Bin collections is one of the areas where we have direct contact with every household in the borough. We are determined to offer our residents a modern service that responds to their needs.
“We have some tough decisions to make due to the financial pressures we face. We will make a decision which will provide the best long-term outcome for everyone in our borough.”
If adopted, the new service would be in place for a minimum of three years. The council says it would look at ways it could continue to work with residents to reduce waste and increase levels of reuse and recycling during this time.
The council claims the service would reduce carbon emissions by 220,000kg a year.
Recommendations
Based on the findings of the consultation, the recommendations for Cheshire West and Chester council’s strategy include collecting household waste fortnightly using a 180-litre wheeled bin, as per the current arrangement.
“We will make a decision which will provide the best long-term outcome for everyone in our borough”
Two larger capacity recycling bins on wheels would be collected fortnightly to replace existing 55-litre boxes.
Food collections would take place weekly using existing small food bins.
People will be supported with special arrangements if their housing circumstances makes it more difficult to accommodate larger bins.
A chargeable garden waste collection service would be provided during 40 weeks of the year, covering the ‘growing season’ between March and November. Collections would continue to take place fortnightly.
Consultation
More than 14,800 people including residents and stakeholders responded to Cheshire West and Chester council’s consultation in January.
More than 73% of those who responded agreed with the council’s priorities for the waste strategy: to reduce overall waste, maximise recycling and deliver an efficient and cost-effective service.
Residents who responded also said existing recycling boxes were difficult to carry and easily damaged. They suggested more recycling capacity should be provided to households.
Key challenges
In a report set to go before the council on 9 June, Cheshire West and Chester said it was facing some “key challenges” like many local authorities across the country.
There have been “significant impacts” on material income in the past 10 years due to a global slowdown in the value of recyclable materials, the council says. It says it does not know if this market will stabilise.
Since the last review of the collection service in 2012, there has been an increase of approximately 13,000 households in Cheshire West and Chester. The council believes there is a need to review collection routes to ensure the best use of vehicles, staff resources and fuel consumption.
Cheshire West and Chester
Representing an estimated population of around 340,000, Cheshire West and Chester council had a household waste recycling rate of 56.4% in the 2019/20 financial year.
In its report, Cheshire West and Chester said pandemic-related factors including lockdown and working from home caused a “substantial increase” in the volume of recycling and residual waste in 2020/21. Dry recycling increased by more than 5,000 tonnes (18%) and residual waste by 7,500 tonnes (14%). The council suggests the net impact could be a 2% drop in the recycling rate to 54% for 2020/21 and additional residual waste treatment costs of around £700,000.
Currently, kerbside collection services are provided by the council’s in-house company, Cheshire West Recycling (CWR), as part of a contractual agreement which expires in 2026. CWR was launched on 29 March 2020 to take over the borough’s waste and recycling services from Kier (see letsrecycle.com story).
Household waste recycling centres (HWRCs) are provided by HW Martin as part of a contractual agreement which expires in 2023.
Waste treatment and processing is provided by FCC Environment as part of a deal expiring in 2024.
Bulky waste collection services are provided as part of a contractual agreement between CWR and Cheshire-based social enterprise Changing Lives.
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