High Peak borough council, which has 10 bring bank sites, said that a large quantity of non-recyclable material was being deposited at the sites by residents – while the overall usage of the sites was declining.
The problem was highlighted at a meeting in late 2015, where it was reported that the sites, “were being abused and are eyesores due to the amount of rubbish being tipped.”
In 2014/15 High Peak, which is based in Buxton and has a population of just over 91,000, achieved a 42.8% household waste recycling rate. This year it is hoping to improve on this level and it has already recorded a 48.5% recycling rate for the first quarter of 2015/16.
However, spokesperson for the borough said: “Because of the misuse of the recycling banks, little could be economically recycled. The material collected actually reduces the borough’s performance. So removing the sites, and the contaminated material, will increase the overall recycling rate and help us meet the 50% government target.”
Kerbside service
The 1100 litre bring banks for commingled paper, cardboard, food and drink cans, household plastic packaging and glass bottles and jars, were serviced by its waste contractor Veolia. Additional banks were provided by ACE UK for cartons and by JMP Wilcox for textiles.
The council predicts that households will not be affected by the removal of the sites as residents can recycle a wide range of materials through its fortnightly collection service.
With the exception of cartons, all materials will be accepted by the kerbside service, which will continue to be carried out by Veolia.
Residents wishing to recycle cartons can take them to household waste recycling centres (HWRCs) at Buxton and Glossop, run on behalf of Derbyshire county council.
Councillor John Haken, executive member for operational services at the council, said: “The council operates an effective recycling and waste collection service for residents from their homes and most of the materials collected from these recycling sites can be recycled in the brown bin, green box and red bag.
“In addition to contamination, there has been a general decline in recycling centre use since the introduction of the brown bin service so we have taken the decision that there is no real need for additional facilities.”
The household kerbside service includes a green lidded bin for food and garden waste, a brown bin for commingled recyclables including paper, cardboard, food tins and cans, a green box for glass and a red bag for textiles.
Information
To ease the removal process, the council has written to relevant landowners, put signs on recycling banks at all sites and is working with its contractor and the street cleaning team to coordinate bank removal with a final site clear up.
Residents have been warned that any bags of material left at the sites after the removal date will be treated as fly tipping.
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