Dorset prepares for biggest ever service change

The Dorset Waste Partnership (DWP) made up of Dorset county council and the six district and borough councils in Dorset is delivering the containers ahead of the roll-out of a single county-wide collection service from October 2012.

The commingled recycle for Dorset service is set to replace 12 different systems for the collection of waste and recyclables, which are currently in operation across the region.

Bin deliveries to 53,000 households will begin next week in Christchurch and on Monday September 17 in East Dorset. DWP said residents will receive their new containers between six and two weeks before their service changes. Current collections will run up until the week before the new service starts.

Under the new service, dry recyclables will be collected fortnightly, as will residual waste and garden waste. In addition, food waste will be collected on a weekly basis.

The new service will begin in Christchurch on October 1, parts of East Dorset, including Ameysford, Three Legged Cross and Wimborne, on October 29. The rest of East Dorset and all of North Dorset is due to move to the scheme in spring 2013.

Over the next eight weeks residents throughout Dorset will receive:

• A 240-litre grey wheeled bin with a green lid for the fortnightly collection of dry recycling which includes paper and cardboard; tins and cans; plastic bottles, pots, tubs and trays; and aerosols;
• A 140-litre grey wheeled bin with a grey lid for the fortnightly collection of rubbish;
• A 23-litre brown lockable bin for the weekly collection of food waste;
• A 7-litre brown kitchen caddy for food waste; and,
• A 240-litre wheeled bin or 120-litre bag for green waste.

Residents must opt in to the fortnightly green waste collection service to receive a bin or bag, for which they must pay a yearly fee of 35 or 25, respectively. Households will keep their current green recycling box for the collection of glass containers, such as bottles and jars.

The food waste bins and caddies are being provided by Leeds-based manufacturer Straight, who announced that it had won the contract in July this year (see letsrecycle.com story). Shropshire-based Craemer UK is providing the 240-litre and 140-litre wheeled bins.

Confident

Commenting on the containers, Steve Burdis, director of DWP, said: The delivery of the new containers will be an opportunity for residents to familiarise themselves with their new service before it starts. The majority of the people we have spoken to at public road shows have welcomed the new service, with many asking why we havent done it sooner. However, for others, changes such as using wheelie bins may take time to get used to, which Im confident they soon will.

The new containers are easy to use and move. They will reduce litter by protecting waste from animals and help Dorset recycle more materials, such as food waste and plastic pots, tubs and trays, rather than sending them to landfill.

Inserts

DWP had hoped to provide inserts for some of the wheeled bins, however these probed problematic to obtain. This was due to incompatibility between the inserts and wheeled bins which had already been purchased.

The move to commingled collections in Dorset comes despite concern among councils that they could be open to legal challenge if they do not collect waste separately, following a Judicial Review concerning the transposition of the EU Waste Framework Directive into English and Welsh law.

However Mr Burdis told a meeting of the DWPs joint committee in March that it was highly unlikely that the Partnership would be at risk of legal challenge, as more than 50% of councils operate some form of commingled recycling collection service.