Council encouraged by free green waste collections

A council which has bucked the trend among local authorities in moving from a paid-for to a free garden waste collection service has seen the number of residents using the service increase three-fold.

Amber Valley borough council in Derbyshire announced plans in early 2013 to scrap the annual 40 fee that it was charging residents who wished to make use of the service, in order to increase the uptake of green waste recycling across the borough.

Instead, as of April 2013 residents are entitled to a free collection, with any wishing to opt into the service having to pay a one-off 20 charge for the 240-litre green waste container (see letsrecycle.com story).

This comes at a time when many councils are opting to charge for the service, as a way of filling holes in their budgets caused by funding cuts.

And, according to the council there has been a significant increase in the number of residents who are now using the service, with 12,300 households opting into the scheme since the beginning of the year, compared to 3,800 when the charge applied.

Applications

And, while the application period to opt in had originally only been planned to run for a number of weeks, it is likely to remain open until the end of the year as residents have continued to apply.

The change was brought in alongside broader changes to Amber Valleys waste collection system, which included switching from a source separated kerbside system, to a commingled container for recycling, including the addition of plastic bottles and food containers which residents had previously not been able to recycle.

Although data is not yet available to prove the success of the service, Amber Valleys environment manager Ian Shaw told letsrecycle.com that the new collection system is likely to see a vast amount of material diverted from landfill.

Quality

Meanwhile, he also commented that the change to a free service has not resulted in a poorer quality of waste being produced.

He said: Tonnages have increased dramatically because it has been a good growing season. A lot of that waste would have been put in the residual waste bins so in theory it should reduce landfill costs No loads have been rejected and we have always been vigilant on the quality, but we have found that it has remained good.

We always knew there was a demand for the service but the 40 per year charge discouraged some people and we decided that, on balance, this was one of the best ways of increasing our recycling rate. We look forward to significant improvements in the future.

Reports presented to the councils cabinet in October estimated that the scheme would cost around 660,000 per year, but that this could be financed this through recycling credit payments from Derbyshire county council which will come about as a result of it sending less waste to landfill as well as savings made through renegotiating its collection contract with Veolia Environmental Services.