Gedling borough council in Nottinghamshire is collecting glass from households on a monthly basis as part of a savings plan to reduce its overall budget by nearly 2.5 million over the next three years.
Council cabinet members agreed at a meeting yesterday (February 20) to finalise its budget reduction plans, which include moving to a monthly household glass collection from this month while increasing its income from its paid-for garden waste collection scheme.
By reducing the frequency of its glass collections, the council hopes to save 90,000 next year, rising to a 130,000 saving in 2014/15.
Until this month, glass was collected in a separate blue box by Gedling council on a fortnightly basis alongside a green commingled recycling box. The council which recorded a 36.41% recycling rate in 2012/13 will continue to collect green boxes and black bag refuse every two weeks.
Glass collected in separate boxes from households is taken to recycling company Recrescos site in Kirkby, Ashfield, and also to Wastecycles facility at nearby Colwick.
Commingled recycling material, meanwhile, is sent to Veolia Environmental Services 85,000 tonnes per year capacity materials recycling facility (MRF) in Mansfield under a contract with Nottinghamshire county council.
The councils waste management budget for 2013/14 was 2,017,600, but under the approved changes this will be reduced to 1,769,700 next year representing an overall reduction of 247,000.
The changes follow a public consultation last year on the councils budget, with the council facing severe financial pressures following the prolonged downturn of the economy and the announcement of further reductions in the government grant.
Additional income
In additional to savings from glass collection changes, the council hopes that additional income streams as well as the likes of efficiencies in equipment and printing and a review of the waste services structure will produce additional waste management budget savings of 114,300 over the next three years.
An increase in the number of garden waste collection service customers is expected to bring in additional income of 24,900. Garden waste is collected monthly from January to March and fortnightly the rest of the year for an annual fee of 34.
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A report to the cabinet meeting yesterday states that there will be additional income from increased uptake to the garden waste scheme, the introduction of bin sales for new developments and increased tonnage recycling rates.
Furthermore, as part of its Gedling Plan 2014/15, the council is aiming to investigate and implement a planned programme of activities and initiatives to further minimise the amount of waste disposed of either at landfill or by incineration.
Gedling is not the first authority in Nottinghamshire to introduce monthly glass collections Broxtowe borough council also began collection glass on a monthly basis in bags in 2008.
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