Local newspaper poll kills Basingstoke collection scheme

Despite being backed by council officers, a poll carried out by the Basingstoke Gazette earlier this month claimed 93% of residents were against the scheme.

The scheme, which would have been subject to a full public consultation, proposed collecting recyclable material each fortnight, with residual waste collected on the alternate week.

It was suggested as a way to pull up the north Hampshire borough's recycling rate, which has been stagnant in recent years. Basingstoke and Deane's recycling rate has risen just 2 percentage points since 2002/03, and at 17% languishes significantly below the 27% English national average.

The Tory-led council has a government-set target to reach a 30% recycling rate by 2007/08.

Opposition
Council officers had been in the process of gathering information to prepare for a public consultation when councillors decided against introducing the scheme.

The newspaper poll saw 1,792 readers voting, with 1,674 against the proposal.

Councillor Elaine Still, cabinet member for the environment and community services, announced last Wednesday that alternate weekly collections would not be coming to Basingstoke.

“Least favoured”
Yesterday the Conservative councillor told letsrecycle.com: “Alternate weekly collection has always been our least favoured option. I don't think it would suit the make-up of the town.

“We have lots of flats and lots of large housing developments, with five or six people in a family. Some rural areas, where they recycle a lot, would probably like alternate weekly collections, but on the whole we are not ready. It is not the right time for alternate weekly collections in Basingstoke,” she added.

A public consultation is still set to take place next year on waste management and possible improvements to recycling – but alternate weekly collections will not be discussed.

Cllr Still now wants to see more education work done in the borough in order to help Basingstoke recycle more of its waste.