The Oxfordshire Waste Partnership has outlined plans to save its five local authority members a combined £7.4 million over the next decade by increasing its focus on waste prevention.
The document, which is currently subject to a six-week consultation, breaks down the five councils' current spending on waste collection, haulage and disposal, which amounts to £35 million per year, and identifies priority areas for the Oxfordshire Waste Partnership (OWP) to address.
Assessing its performance to date, the OWP claims that waste reduction efforts helped it to save £386,000 on disposal costs in 2009/10 and it is now hoping to further enhance this performance through the Waste Prevention Strategy over the next decade.
Sarah Gilbert, county council's waste reduction manager, said: “We're setting out what we think Oxfordshire councils should be doing to reduce waste and where we should focus resources to help people avoid, reduce and reuse their rubbish.”
The major area that the OWP views the potential for savings is garden and food waste. The document highlights that the combined councils spent £212,000 in 2009/10 on disposing of compostable material and an enhanced push for home composting could help reduce this cost.
It states that the aim of selling 4,000 home composting bins in 2010/11, followed by 2,000 per year after that, through the development of a home composting network could divert 64,324 tonnes of composting waste from landfill between 2010 and 2020. A move which, the OWP claims, could save it £3.3 million.
The principal that home composting saves money was backed up by a study published last month by composting bin manufacturer Straight which found that subsidising home composting bins could save councils £600,000 during the course of the bins' operational lives (see letsrecycle.com story).
Food Waste
The Oxfordshire Waste Partnership also claims that the councils' current spend of £138,000 per year for disposal could be reduced through running food waste reduction campaigns and providing practical advice on preventing food waste. Ultimately, the OWP envisions being able to save £2.6 million on food waste disposal costs over the next 10 years through this measure.
In addition, the document states that greater reuse of waste items at household waste and recycling centres and some bulky items from bulky waste collections could save £716,000 over the next 10 years in disposal costs.
The promotion of real nappies could also potentially save the councils £692,000 in disposal costs, while a dedicated campaign clamping down on junk mail is seen as having the potential to generate £88,000 in savings by 2020, it said.
Strategy
Once finalised, the Waste Prevention Strategy will be used to replace the OWP's existing Waste Reduction and Reuse Plan, which is part of its Joint Municipal Waste Management Strategy. The Joint Municipal Waste Management Strategy is due for review over the course of 2011/12.
Councillor Ian Hudspeth, chair of the OWP, added: “We need to reduce the amount of rubbish that needs to be collected, transported and processed not only for the obvious environmental benefits but to reduce the burden on council tax payers for dealing with that waste. I'd encourage anyone who has an interest in this to take part in our consultation and tell us what they think.”
The document focuses entirely on waste reduction and does not cover recycling, collection or waste disposal. The consultation is open until September 24 and is available to view on Oxfordshire county council's website.
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