The proposals have been put forward as the council is seeking to increase its recycling rate from its 2014/15 level of 40.6% to 50% by 2020.
But, the council is not seeking to implement a fully commingled system for plastic, paper, glass and cans. Instead the authority will look at a range of options including a ‘caddie’ sitting inside a wheeled bin to separately collect key materials such as paper and glass.
Focus group
The idea came after a focus group was held to create ideas for a new household waste and recycling strategy. The current contract, held by Suez, is to be renewed in 2017.
The collection system for Doncaster residents includes a green bin for garden waste, green box for mixed recycling, a blue bag for paper, a clear bag for plastic bottles and a black bin for refuse.
However, this system is seen by the council as ‘time consuming’ and so a new set of ideas were discussed during the meeting including mixed collections of some recyclables.
MBT
During the focus group, the authority stated that changes to the waste collection must not be detrimental to the mechanical biological treatment (MBT) facility process, but instead must provide incentive to minimise black bin waste and increase recycling rates.
The MBT and anaerobic digestion (AD) facility is part of a deal signed between Barnsley, Doncaster and Rotherham councils to process residual waste from local residents (see letsrecycle.com story).
In addition to Doncaster’s new recycling strategy, the council has signed a new five year contract for the disposal of green waste to be implemented in 2016.
Survey
Public consultations are currently being held in order to assist the decision making for the new service, which will be ongoing until 8 January 2016.
Cabinet member for Environment, councilor Chris McGuiness, said: “We are seeking people’s views on waste and recycling to guide our decision making because we know how important these services are to everybody.
“We have done really well in Doncaster to get to a 40% recycling rate, emphasising that local people understand the importance of environmental issues, but now we want to go even further and maximise the amount we recycle. We need to think carefully about how we can improve the service for everyone.”
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