Owain Griffiths, recycling advisor at WRAP Cymru, told the virtual LARAC 2020 conference last week (15 October) that all 22 local authorities in Wales had restricted residual waste capacity “in one way or another” as part of efforts to recycle 70% of municipal waste by 2024/25.
Measures included restricting collection frequency and capacity alongside moves to tackle side waste and restricting capacity at household waste recycling centres (HWRCs), he explained.
And, while he acknowledged that such changes prompted local outcry and social media flare ups “at the start”, he claimed that this quickly diminished as the service bedded in.
“Time and time again…within a couple of collection cycles all opposition for them or the majority of opposition just tails straight off as soon as people realise that they can cope with the levels of restriction and can cope quite easily because they’ve all got extensive recycling collections.”
“The majority of opposition tails off as people realise they can cope with the restrictions”
He added: “So the thought is actually much worse than the reality and that has been borne out by satisfaction surveys and satisfaction levels actually go back up pretty quickly to high levels.”
Food waste
Mr Griffiths explained that every local authority in Wales has a weekly collection of food waste and also collections of a wide range of dry recycling, enabling residents to adapt to tighter residual waste limits.
He was speaking at a session looking at the experience of local authority though case studies, which was introduced by chair of LARAC (the Local Authority Recycling Advisory Committee), Carole Taylor and was organised by Environment Media Group.
East Riding
During the session, delegates also heard from Sarah Atkinson, service manager for East Riding district council, who agreed that limiting residual waste was one of the tools which has helped her local authority to achieve the highest recycling rate in England for the last three years.
The unitary authority operates an in-house refuse collection service, emptying the 240 litre bins of 154,000 households on a fortnightly basis. The council’s recycling system is comprised of three wheelie bins: blue for recyclable waste, brown for garden and food waste, and green for non-recyclables.
She said: “The scheme seems to work well for residents.. the education initiatives and communication campaigns we have put in place…have given us some good results and gotten us to where we are today.”
She explained that two of the main campaigns the council had undertaken in recent years has included “bin tagging aimed at reducing residual waste and tackling nappy contamination in blue bins which seemed to be a big issue.”
Ms Atkinson said that working with residents was ‘key’ and talked about the councils plan to maintain recycling rate, commenting: “We might have the top recycling rate but we are still looking to improve.”
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