And, DWP remains confident that it can also meet the financial requirements of the project – after projecting an estimated £2 million overspend for 2014/15 in its latest financial report.
The concerns come as the partnership continues to roll out its new ‘Recycle for Dorset’ service, which sees dry recycling and residual waste collected fortnightly on alternating weeks.
The service was first launched in October 2012, with a roll out across all DWP counties scheduled to be completed when the remaining 19,000 properties adopt the service in July 2015.
Paper and cardboard; plastic bottles, pots, tubs and trays; tins and cans; and aerosols are collected in 240-litre green-lidded wheeled bins, alongside a separate green box for glass bottles and jars and a pink reusable bag for household batteries.
Food waste is collected every week in brown wheeled bins, while a paid-for garden waste collection service operates on a fortnightly basis.
Delays
The service started for around 50,000 properties in Weymouth and Portland, and also for part of West Dorset, including Chickerell, Maiden Newton and Sherbourne in October 2014, when the DWP said a ‘minority’ of residents had experienced problems such as not receiving containers on time.
DWP is currently in talks with Craemer UK in order to claim compensation for problems experienced during the delivery period – after the container manufacturer subcontracted delivery of its bins in Weymouth and Portland to a specialist container delivery company.
Although the roll out initially progressed ‘reasonably well’, DWP was soon forced to mobilise its own resources to complete the main delivery on time. A committee report adds that removal of redundant bins from the area also went less well than anticipated, with just half of the 17,000 brown bins collected during the exercise.
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Speaking to letsrecycle.com, DWP director Steve Burdis said it always took time to embed a new service, but maintained the future of ‘Recycle for Dorset’ looked positive.
Mr Burdis said: “Unfortunately the bin delivery did not go as we would have liked and we had to step in and take over that.
“We have got some issues and times are very testing for local government. However I still remain very pleased on how the Recycle for Dorset scheme is going and of course we are three and a half years into a five year investment to save programme. By the time we complete that we will have a highly efficient service.”
Overspend
DWP has also confirmed its latest prediction of net spending for 2014/15, with an estimated £2 million required in excess of its budget.
The adjustment was made due to external factors ‘which cannot be controlled’, such as the market price for recyclates, the amount of waste generated by Dorset households, and the speed at which a materials recycling facility (MRF) in Bournemouth can be brought into full operation.
However, Mr Burdis added that the budget had only increased slightly – by 0.3% – in response to a 9% rise in waste treatment costs for DWP over the past year.
And, Bill Davidson, head of strategy at DWP, explained that the term ‘overspend’ was “a little misleading”.
He said: “Even without our budget issues we would almost certainly be consulting on HWRC charging because of the need to make efficiency savings. We have to consult on everything.
“That isn’t to say we will be doing all these things – we just have to consult on them. At the moment is no definite plan to charge or to close anything – all there is a consultation. We are working hard on it to see what we can do improve it.”
Launched in April 2011, the DWP councils include: Christchurch borough; Dorset county, East Dorset district; North Dorset district; Purbeck district; West Dorset district, and Weymouth and Portland borough.
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