Kirklees had aimed in 2021 to achieve a 55% recycling rate of it municipal waste as well as record a 70% recycling rate at its HWRCs by 2025.
However, in a statement this week (10 December) ahead of a cabinet meeting later this month, the council explained that these targets will be revised, as well as a host of other changes.
The revised targets will see the municipal waste target pushed back to 2035 but rise to 65% and the HWRC 70% target pushed back by five years.
Under the proposed plans, the council is seeking to review the strategy priorities each year, setting out a 12-month pledge detailing the next set of initiatives it plans to deliver and its aspirations for the next five years.
Other plans which have been scaled back include the commitment to introduce glass and food waste collections to the kerbside in 2024. This has been delayed until the council gets clarity from the government over ‘Simpler Recycling’.
‘Landscape’
Councillor Yusra Hussain, cabinet member for culture and greener Kirklees, said: “The financial landscape has changed significantly since the strategy was first written and published in 2021. In addition, there is still much uncertainty around Central Government legislation and funding promised which had been taken into consideration in the original strategy.
“These factors have forced us to revisit the strategy and review what we can achieve and when. We want to keep the ambitions of the strategy, but the bigger plans like glass collections may have to come later than anticipated.
“We will deliver what we can in the meantime, within our current contractual arrangements and available budgets.”
The West Yorkshire-based authority, which recorded a 26.9% recycling rate in 2021/22, serves around 430,000 residents.
Register for free to comment