Northumberland county council has undertaken a thorough review of it waste and recycling services in a bid to find cost-savings, with a particular focus on vehicle use and collection rounds.
The North East unitary authority is discussing plans to introduce new collection rounds, remove some material from kerbside collections and reduce working hours for operatives.
According to minutes from the communities place overview and scrutiny committee on February 22 2011, the proposed amendments to routes and vehicle provision could potentially net the council 202,000-a-year in savings.
Optimised garden waste collection routes began to be implemented at the end of February, with refuse and recycling routes set to be improved in the South East of the local authority area from the week commencing May 9 2011. This will be spread to the rest of the county from September 12 2011.
This involves placing tracking devices on all vehicles, as well as specialist route optimisation equipment, and training for staff to use the equipment. Further to this, Northumberland intends to seek consultancy support to assess optimal routes.
The new route service coincides with the collection operatives working week being compressed to 37 hours from Monday to Thursday.
Renewal
On top of the route changes, the council aims to begin a four-year process of renewing any refuse collection vehicles that have been in operation for seven years or more. This is in a bid to limit the maintenance costs and environmental impact of the older vehicles.
In total, Northumberland anticipates replacing 48 of the councils existing fleet of 65 vehicles at a cost of 6.7 million. Furthermore, the council claims the revised approach to vehicles will save it 22,000 in its 2010/11 budget in relation to vehicle hire charges.
The council also intends to incorporate collections of waste and recycling in the former Berwick Upon Tweed council area into Northumberlands in-house service. It plans to take over from existing contractor Veolia Environmental Services, which has held the contract since 2005, from April 2 2011.
Rationalisation
This marks the second consecutive year that Northumberland has outlined an intensive look at its waste services in order to help find savings for its in-year budget.
In 2010/11, the council opted to drop glass from kerbside collections in a bid to help cut 547,000 from its waste services operational budget (see letsrecycle.com story).
In the most recent documents, Northumberland explains that the decision to remove glass was based on the fact that volume of glass collected each quarter has reduced, with Q2 2010/11 figures being 315 tonnes lower than those for Q2 2009/10.
Textiles
The county council has also undertaken a review of its textile recycling service and outlined plans to work more closely with local charities in order to raise 300,000 of untapped revenue from the sector.
Under the arrangement, Northumberland will work with local charities helping them to expand their operations at a potential 74 new locations. This will be coupled with work to explore the possibility of a council-led doorstep collection scheme.
Textile recycling firm Nathan Wastesavers has been handed a contract to provide containers at Northumberlands 12 household waste and recycling centres, as well as 32 sites across the local authority area.
Commenting on the potential sale of textiles, Councillor Ian Lindley, executive member responsible for waste management, said: The council is facing unprecedented financial challenges and has to make some very difficult choices in order to safeguard vital public services.
“We have to look at ways of maximising income and gaining best value for residents, and one source that has been identified is sale of material collected at these banks.
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