Falkirk braced for three-weekly waste collections

Eight areas in Falkirk will from this month start having their household waste collected by the council every three weeks as part of a pilot project aimed at reducing the amount of waste it currently sends to landfill.

From May 12, around 18,000 homes in parts of Airth, Letham, Larbert, Stenhousemuir, Torwood, Boness, Carron and Carronshore are moving from a fortnightly to a three-weekly residual green bin waste collection service, but recycling collections services will remain the same.

Some high rise flats in these areas, as well as all other areas of Falkirk, will continue to have their food waste collected every week and their recycling (blue and black boxes), textiles (bag) and garden waste (brown bin) collected on a fortnightly basis.

According to the council, it spent 1.4 million on landfill tax to dispose of nearly 18,000 tonnes of recyclable material last year a cost that it says will continue to rise if it does not reduce the amount of waste sent to landfill.

Residents affected by the changes have been sent information packs by the council over the past month outlining the changes to collection services, while a number of public information roadshow events have also taken place in the communities.

Another 12 public information events have been organised by Falkirk council throughout May to help inform affected residents of the changes.

Larger blue recycling bins are available free of charge to help residents recycle more. However, residents seeking a larger green residual waste bin will be asked to complete a waste diary to demonstrate that they are actively participating in all of the kerbside recycling schemes, although special provisions will be made if there is a medical requirement.

Commenting on the changes, Falkirks spokesman for the Environment, councillor Craig Martin, said: The only noticeable change that householders will see is their green bins being collected every three weeks instead of two in the selected areas.

The biggest area where residents can help is by recycling more of their food waste. Grey food caddies are available free of charge and will be collected every week. We can also supply larger blue bins as well as other recycling containers.

We will be doing a lot of activity to promote the new scheme in the areas that will see the changes and we thank everyone in advance for continuing to support the effort towards zero waste.

Report

Falkirk councillors first agreed in December 2013 to implement three-weekly waste collections following a report which found a significant tonnage of recyclable material was going to landfill via waste collections (see letsrecycle.com story).

And, under the Zero Waste Scotland regulations, the council must recycle 60% of household waste by 2020 and 70% of all wastes by 2025. The council must also send no more than 5% of material to landfill by 2025, on top of a ban on biodegradable waste to landfill by 2020.

According to the December council report, decreasing the frequency of residual collections will give affected residents a weekly collection capacity of 393 litres, which would save the council an estimated 258,826 in 2014/15 and 385,542 the following year.

Furthermore, the report estimated that the the changes will result in a potential recycling rate of 60.8%.

Gwynedd

Falkirk is one of the first councils to implement a three-weekly collection service, Gwynedd council in North West Wales also approved similar plans for its residual waste service at a cabinet meeting this week (April 29).

The Welsh council claims that the move will help increase recycling rates and to meet Wales recycling targets, leading to savings of around 350,000 per year (see letsrecycle.com story).

In England, meanwhile, communities secretary Eric Pickles is strongly in favour of weekly waste collections, with his department publishing its bin bible in January 2014 in an attempt to debunk the myths surrounding the benefits of less frequent collection services (see letsrecycle.com story).