Bolton heralds ‘slim bins’ roll-out
Bolton council has thanked residents for their support with the rollout of slim grey bins across the borough, which it is claimed has helped the council to avoid £1.4m of waste disposal costs.
Since June 2016, the council has been replacing all 240 litre grey bins with slim 140 litre grey bins across the borough. The council introduced this scheme to avoid £1.25m of waste disposal costs per year.
Residents have adapted well to the new bins and have already started recycling more and disposing of less residual waste, according to the council. Between April and December the council collected 33,310 tonnes of recyclable waste, an increase of 2956 tonnes on the same period last year.
The recycling rate for this period rose to almost 45%, compared to 41% for the same period in 2015.
The council also collected 34,246 tonnes of residual waste, a reduction of 4,094 tonnes on the same time last year.
All the old 240l bins which were collected in by the council were shredded, chipped and used in the manufacture of the new 140l bins.
Bolton council’s executive cabinet member for environmental services, Councillor Nick Peel, said: “We’d like to thank residents for all their hard work in recycling, which has helped us to avoid costs of over £1.4m so far.
“Residents have adapted well to the new slim bins, by recycling more and putting out less grey bin waste.
“This not only saves money, it also helps the environment, as more waste is recycled.”
Tameside, Trafford, Stockport and Manchester have already introduced slim grey bins and other Greater Manchester councils have moved to three weekly collections.
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Edinburgh switches to three-weekly garden waste service
City of Edinburgh council is to roll-out changes to its garden waste collection service which will see the council operate a year-round collection from households on a three-weekly basis.
From next month Brown bins will now be collected by the council once every three weeks all year round, instead of every two weeks in the summer and four weeks in the winter.
The change will result in more consistent collections throughout the year and will enable the service to continue running despite increasing financial pressures, the council has claimed.
Environment convener, Councillor Lesley Hinds, said: “We know how much the garden waste service is valued by residents and that’s why we continue to provide it.
“These changes to the frequency of collections will result in more consistency throughout the year, but will also enable us to keep providing this service, which I know has not been possible for all Councils amidst increasing financial constraints.”
Stickers and tags will be applied to bins over the coming weeks to remind residents of the change, and 2017 bin calendars can be downloaded from the Council website, detailing the date on which three-weekly collections begin.
In some cases there will be an interim collection before the three-weekly collections begin. The residents concerned will receive a letter informing them of the date of this interim collection.
Any extra waste which can’t be fitted into bins can be taken to local Community Recycling Centres in Sighthill, Seafield or Craigmillar.
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West Devon to charge for green waste collection
Councillors in West Devon borough council have voted to impose a charge on garden waste collection services, after having run a free collection scheme for residents.
West Devon Borough Council will join the majority of other authorities in Devon who collect garden waste and already charge for this service. At a full council meeting last week, 24 Councillors voted in favour of the decision, one voted against and two Councillor abstained.
The leader of West Devon borough council, Councillor Philip Sanders said: “I am pleased that we will continue to offer this service. Our members did not want to cut this service, and as a discretionary service and in light of our budget pressures this is the right outcome. We are faced with a significant budget gap and the decision was clear for me, let’s continue to offer a service to those people who want it. Although in my heart I did not want to introduce a charge for this service, I would rather see an introduction of a charge than loose the service.”
The details of the charges are due to be finalised later in the year.
Charges for green waste collection have largely been seen by local authorities as a way of keeping a discretionary service running without having to incur significant costs from other areas of the waste collection budget. Increasingly in recent years councils around the country have introduced charges to keep services running.
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South Northamptonshire reports recycling rise
South Northamptonshire council has reported its highest recycling collection figures since its current collections regime began, for the start of 2016/17.
According to the council a recycling and composting rate of over 60% has been achieved in the borough so far for 2016/17 an improvement on its 59% total recycling and composting figure recorded in 2015/16.
The biggest improvement has been the 281 tonnes of food waste collected during January 2017, a 47 tonne increase on the January 2016 figure of 234 tonnes, it has claimed. The council also collected 960 tonnes of recycling from blue bins this January, compared to 918 tonnes during January 2016.
Councillor Dermot Bambridge, SNC’s portfolio holder for environmental services said: “I’d like to thank residents for the enthusiasm they have shown in support of our goals to drive down costs and reduce the district’s environmental impact.
“Because residents are careful when recycling, the number of items that shouldn’t be there is very low. But the evidence shows that it is possible to recycle or compost up to 80 per cent of waste from the average home and we will seek to continually improve our collection rate.”
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