East Dorset invests 110,000 in kerbside split vehicles

Two of the vehicles have been funded by DEFRA's Waste Minimisation and Recycling Fund. The council invested around 55,000 in each. The third is a spare vehicle and is on lease from Extra Leasing Ltd.

The new vehicles will be used for a new kerbside collection scheme in an effort to make tough recycling targets. East Dorset council's current recycling rate is 16%, and its targets for 2003/04 and 2005/06 are 33% and 40% respectively. “These are amongst the highest in the country,” said Harry Cromwell, recycling officer at East Dorset council, “We may be two to three years behind target.”

Around 34,500 or 90% of households in the district are already covered by a kerbside collection of newspapers, magazines, cans and plastic bottles in green boxes. But in May 2003 the council's kerbside collections will change. Currently, residents have newspapers, magazines, cans and plastic bottles collected from the kerbside outside their property every fortnight.

New scheme

The collection will expand to include glass bottles and jars, junk mail and office paper. Initially 13,700 households will use the reusable plastic sack to store newspapers, magazines, junk mail and office paper with glass bottles, jars, cans and plastic bottles going in the green box.

Mr Cromwell said: “We've had a kerbside collection scheme since 1995 but starting on May 6 this year we started a kerbside sort. Using the new stillage vehicles, the men will sort the recyclables at the kerbside.”

If successful the scheme will be expanded in March 2004 to cover the 34,500 homes.

The new vehicles are Mercedes Atego 1318s with a maximum payload of 4.5 tonnes and are split into nine different compartments. Four compartments are for paper, four are for different colours of glass and a large bay at the back with a sloping floor is dedicated to cans and plastic bottles.

Mr Cromwell said: “The council has nine refuse vehicles, two of which are used for the current kerbside collection. The new vehicles will free up one of the recycling ones which will now be used for green waste.”

He added: “We're planning a kitchen and garden waste collection for 5,000 homes this year, adding another 10,000 next year. But we have to wait for the government to revise the Animal By-Products Regulations. We can't act until we get them.”