Neil Greenhalgh, head of waste management at Lancashire, told letsrecycle.comthat while it was unfortunate that Burnley had to suspend services due to a lack of funds this had in no way been “made worse” by the County Council's offer of additional funding described as Lancashire's 'C;ost Sharing Proposal', (see letsrecycle.com story).
Mr Greenhalgh explained that the proposal is an 'offer' by the county council to all 12 districts in
Lancashire to increase their income (above and beyond their statutory recycling credits) in support of improved and expanded recycling services
via kerbside collections. “The county council has set aside over 2m this
year above our statutory recycling credits to help our district partners
with the cost of introducing new recycling services. In Burnley's case
even with this extra cash, following negotiations with their current
contractor, the service proposed by Burnley cannot be afforded.”
Maximising
The Lancashire Waste Partnership, said Mr Greenhalgh, recognises that kerbside collections
are the ultimate route to maximising recovery of household rubbish and that
these services cost significant amounts of money.
He added: “With many successful projects being funded by Defra's National Waste Minimisation and Recycling Fund together with additional resources from Council revenue budgets, we
have collectively managed to reach a 27% recycling rate in Lancashire in
2003/04. The county council is working closely with Burnley to try and
find a solution to this problem so that we can build on success to date.”
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