Milton Keynes currently recycles and composts around 13% of its household waste, but statutory targets for the council are 33% by 2003-04 and 36% by 2005-06.
Following a series of meetings over the summer to gather evidence for the new waste strategy, a report of the council's environment overview committee has recommended a strengthening of “front end” treatments for waste with a particular emphasis on recycling and composting.
“There is only a limited amount which a local authority can do about reducing the amount of waste which is produced,” said the report's author, overview and scrutiny officer Fran Bower, “but there is much room and need for improvement in recycling and composting rates.”
Options
In producing the new waste strategy, the council has considered a number of options, including recycling and composting, mechanical biological treatment, incineration, landfilling and the exporting of waste.
“Paper, plastics, glass and organic waste should be collected from the kerbside on a weekly basis,” the report recommends. “Mixed residual household waste which has not been sorted into recyclables and biodegradable waste should be collected once a fortnight, to encourage recycling and composting.”
The report also recommends an increase in the number of community recycling points and two new civic amenity sites, an extension to the Milton Keynes materials reclamation facility, a public education strategy and an investigation into centralised composting schemes.
Although the report says that Zero Waste is an “aspiration rather than an achievable goal at present”, it does describe Zero Waste as a “viable option” and recommends the setting up of a 'Zero Waste Trust', built on the model of the Cornwall Waste Working Group, to “progress, manage and monitor agreed proposals from this review of the waste strategy”.
Concern
The major issue the new waste strategy will be shaped around is public concern, which has been stirred up in Milton Keynes over an incinerator proposal. Shanks are applying to build a 160 million plant on their landfill site on the southern edge of Bletchley that would handle around 350,000 tonnes of waste a year (see letsrecycle.com story).
But as well as incineration, one local group – People Against Landfill Sites – has been set up specifically against landfilling waste.
Speaking to letsrecycle.com at the Liberal Democrats' annual conference in Brighton, leader of Milton Keynes Council Isobel Wilson said that the public outcry over the Bletchley site was a very significant issue that could even have a vote-winning or losing affect on councillors.
“People think the Liberal Democrats are supporting the incinerator – we're not: we've not said anything,” she said. “We will be looking at the incinerator proposal, but we haven't decided yet. People in Milton Keynes don't want the incinerator, but they don't want the landfill either – what do they propose to do with the waste?”
But the report produced by the environment overview committee is clearly against incineration, saying: “no incineration options should be considered, including pyrolysis”. However, confusingly it does say that energy-from-waste might be an option.
Click here for the full report from the Milton Keynes environment, transport and localities overview committee. You may need to download Adobe Acrobat Reader to view the document.
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