Councils reveal best practice for cutting waste

The survey – carried out by waste advisory body the Waste Improvement Network (WIN) – polled 30 councils across the UK to find out just how they had achieved low waste arisings, with the majority citing the introduction of alternate weekly collections as the main factor in them cutting residual waste levels.

Along with alternate weekly collections, other waste restriction measures, such as smaller-sized bins, strong enforcement efforts and persistent communications campaigns, were highlighted by councils as being important in encouraging residents to minimise waste.

Commenting on the survey, David Greenfield of WIN said: “We were delighted to discover that it appears there really are things councils can do to have a major impact on arisings. Councils have frequently told us that this is an area where they feel it is difficult to have a major impact.

“We also reckon that the money saved by reducing waste arisings in this way must be huge and we're keen to find out more about that,” he added.

Minimisation

The research comes from an informal phone survey of councils carried out by WIN last month (December 2008).  WIN has been developed by the Improvement & Efficiency South East (IESE) to support local authorities and publish waste management information.

Of the councils surveyed, Hyndburn borough council in Lancashire said it had reduced its household waste per head to the lowest level per head of population, 293 kilograms.

The council cited a number of factors behind this achievement, “notably the introduction of alternate weekly collections”.

Purbeck district council in Dorset, the second best performing council out of those surveyed, also claimed that alternate weekly collections were the main driving force behind its reduction in waste collected per head to 298kg.

Neil Randall, principal environmental services officer at Purbeck, told the WIN team: “The principal reason for our low arisings is the introduction of alternate week collections in autumn 2005, this is in combination with a strict ‘no side waste or overflowing bin' policy and kerbside sort collection of dry recyclables to 100% of households.”

Larger population

The survey also found that minimisation efforts could be carried out successfully over an area with a larger population, with Barnsley – a unitary authority – claiming that it had also seen a reduction in its waste arisings since the introduction of alternate weekly collections.

The executive summary for the survey explained that “responses suggest there is a genuine minimisation effect associated with introducing alternate bin collections (ABCs) or other restrictions on residual waste”.

Councils responding to the survey reported that the use of alternate weekly collections had also been accompanied with the provision of wheeled bins and – in most cases – the prohibition of side waste. The combination of the methods was seen to be a recurrent theme among those respondents who had successfully reduced waste arisings.

Alternate weekly collection schemes have faced strong opposition from some in the waste management sector over fears that they could lead to increased vermin infestations due to residual waste being left out for collection for longer.

However, last July, Defra denied that there was a link between increased levels of vermin infestation and collection practices (see letsrecycle.com story).