Consultants WYG Groups fourth annual report, covering 2011/12, found that 20 of the top 30 local authorities in the recycling league table collected commingled waste, compared to just two of the bottom 30.
Separate collections, the report noted, tend to be more prominent in more affluent areas, whereas commingled collections operate across a wide range of wealth and deprivation.
It also found that overall, reported reject rates are decreasing where local authorities have access to locally-based modern MRFs (Materials Recycling Facilities).
WYG argue this could be due to improvements in sorting machinery, procedures at MRFs or decreased contamination in the input streams.
The findings led WYG Project Director Len Attrill to conclude that commingling or two-stream (separating of paper or glass from other materials) is usually cheaper.
Benchmark
Analysis was also conducted by the ONS Area Classifications, which allows authorities to benchmark their own performance compared to others with the same classification.
The highest performing authorities tended to collect fully commingled, while those collecting materials separately generated lower yields.
Many authorities in the bottom 30 of the league table were also in the process of changing their method of waste collection.
Biffa, Kier and Serco were among the funding contributors for the report.
Robin Davies, business development director for Serco Direct Services welcomed the findings, stating Serco takes a residents perspective on the way services are designed and delivered.
He said: By giving customers what they want we are rewarded with higher levels of recycling participation and performance.
Kier business development director Mark Hogan welcomed the increasing appetite for local authorities operating or procuring cross-boundary contracts, but argued one size does not fit all for collection across the UK.
He said: Each locality has different characteristics which in turn require differing approaches to waste management.
There is therefore clearly a place for a wide range of kerbside collection schemes that reflect and respond to this diversity.
Insights
Biffa development director Pete Dickson urged central and local government to note the valuable insights they afforded.
He said: We have long maintained, and we stand firmly by our view, that using wheeled bins for recycling and refuse collections does maximise recycling diversion and recycling rates.
“By giving customers what they want we are rewarded with higher levels of recycling participation and performance”
Robin Davis, Serco Direct Services
Biffa hopes Ashford Borough Council, which ranks lowest on the list, will treble its current recycling rate of 14% once its new commingled waste collection service begins in the area next week (8 July).
The new service is part of a 86 million ten year contract awarded to Biffa by the Mid Kent Joint Waste Partnership in October 2012.
The contract also comprises Maidstone Council, which will roll out its new service in August, and Swale Borough Council, which is due to follow in early 2014.
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