Yet more streets in Derby could see their recycling collections scrapped due to high contamination levels under proposals currently being consulted on with residents in the Mackworth ward.
The continuing contamination of blue recycling bins is forcing the council to pay rejection charges from Biffa, the company which sorts and market its recyclables, leaving councillors unsure of what else we can do except for removing recycling services altogether in order to save money.
Residents on several streets in Mackworth now have until Friday (August 22) to give their views over the potential changes, which would also see refuse collection frequency increase from fortnightly to weekly in order to allow for the reduced capacity from removing the blue recycling bins.
It would be the second ward in Derby to cut recycling collections and increase refuse collection frequency on several roads, after the same service changes to a number of streets in nearby Aboretum were put in place following a trial last year to combat contamination (see letsrecycle.com story).
Derby city council had consulted with Mackworth and Aboretum as well as two other wards Abbey and Normanton suffering from blue recycling bin contamination last year, with all rejecting the proposals apart from Aboretum.
At that time, Mackworth opted instead to focus on an educational campaign on recycling for residents, but according to Derby city council, some residents continue to put incorrect materials into their blue commingled recycling bins, which are then rejected by recycling crews.
Contamination
After continuing with alternate weekly collections of commingled dry recycling and refuse for the last 12 months, Derby city council said there has been no improvement to bin contamination and they continue to receive complaints about the mess.
‘One of the problems is there is no uniformity across the country for collecting. If it was the same across the country people would know what to put in what bin and it would not be a problem.’
Derby city councillor Paul Pegg
Derby city councillor for the Mackworth ward, Paul Pegg, told letsrecycle.com that despite leafleting and door-knocking, contamination on 12 to 15 terraced streets in the ward is worse now than it ever has been.
He explained that the councils in-house collection crews have to reload the contaminated recycling into refuse vehicles that send the material to landfill, which was costing the council money.
In addition, the bins are being left outside the front of densely-populated terraced streets many occupied by students and short-term residents all week instead of just on collection days.
Councillor Pegg said this was attracting rats and foxes as well as being a potential health and safety hazard for passers-by, despite the council carrying out deep cleaning in the area.
Councillor Pegg said: I just dont know what else we can do. We have been out there educating, door knocking and things. But within a few weeks it is messy and contaminated again, and we dont have the finances to keep dealing with this.
When asked why some residents were continuing to put the correct materials into the blue recycling bins, he said: I honestly do not know. If anybody could come up with the answer I would be very grateful. It is so difficult to pin point what the problems are. There is a lot of student accommodation in that area, but I am not blaming them it is everybody.
One of the problems is there is no uniformity across the country for collecting. If it was the same across the country people would know what to put in what bin and it would not be a problem.
Law
The Household Waste Recycling Act 2003 requires all English waste collection authorities to collect at least two types of recyclable waste from all households in their area unless the costs are unreasonably high.
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Councillor Pegg said: I understand there is special dispensation to allow these service changes to take place. It is not breaking the law.
The consultation in Mackworth will end on Friday and councillor Pegg said a final decision on whether or not to stick with recycling collections on the affected streets would then be taken by councillors towards the end of next week.
Councillor Pegg said the services changes had already been a success in Aboretum in tackling the number of bins left on streets and the amount of recycling redirected to landfill.
He said: Whatever the decision that is taken it will be permanent. It is tough. I dont want to see the recycling services removed I honestly dont. But I just dont know what more we can do to clean the area up. After all, it has worked in Aboretum.
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