Councillor John Milnes, who has responsibility for the environment, said in August: “Our pilot collection scheme has proved to be very popular and we are delighted to be able to confirm its expansion, district-wide from November.”
The council is reluctant to expand on the reasons for the delay but it is understood to concern the collection contract. The paper collection is currently carried out by the in-house collection team, but the new scheme could be contracted out to another waste management company.
Mansfield District Council's recycling officer Paul Smith confirmed that the contract had not been finalised but said that despite the delay the collection would definitely be expanded from 12,000 homes to all of the district's 44,000 properties next year.
The confusion over who will run the scheme and when it will be expanded led to concerns that Mansfield District Council had lost its supply contract from Aylesford Newsprint and that the council would stop the paper collection. But it now seems that the collection will continue.
Aylesford Newsprint sub-contracts the collection and processing of used newspapers and magazines in Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire to recycling company Worksop Waste. Worksop Waste collects the paper from the council and takes it to Aylesford's newsprint mill in Kent.
Les Marsdon, of Worksop Waste, said: “There is no problem as far as we are concerned. We don't want to lose any paper and just want to get as much as possible.”
Matthew Hall, of Aylesford Newsprint, said: “There is certainly no problem with us at our end and I am happy to go into contract with the council.”
The current scheme collects 450 tonnes of paper each year, but the council is hoping that this will increase to more than 1,800 tonnes when it is expanded. Under the new scheme, each household will be issued with a sack for waste paper, which will be collected fortnightly from their door. For every tonne of paper that is collected 1 will be donated to local charities.
Chris Collison, director of development services, said: “We hope the fact that we have managed to negotiate a 1 donation to charity per tonne of paper collected will encourage more people to take part. This is one of a number of new recycling initiatives we hope to introduce in the near future.”
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