Political row over recycling in Bristol

The Liberal Democrats- which used to run the council -claim that the current administration has done “absolutely nothing” to develop recycling since it took over in May and is delaying decisions by referring them to a forthcoming 'Citizens Jury.'

In particular, councillors claim the party is taking too long to procure biodegradable bin liners for food waste – which are believed will encourage more recycling.

However, speaking to letsrecycle.com today, Bristol city council's executive member for neighbourhoods Judith Price, said that the council was working as fast as it could to divert more waste from landfill, and that it was important to consult residents before making an changes to the current service.

She said: “Recycling is a priority for us in Bristol and we are moving as quickly as we can. In the elections we said we would listen to what people wanted which is why we have set up a Citizen's Jury.”

Collection

In Bristol, the city council runs a fortnightly collection of residual waste, a weekly collection of cardboard and garden waste and a weekly black box collection for waste paper, cans, glass, textiles, batteries and aerosols.

The city authority has also introduced weekly food waste collections which have helped to almost double recycling rates to around 37% (see letsrecycle.com story) .

At present, residents are advised to wrap their food waste in paper or use special paper bin liners before placing them in bins and kitchen caddies to avoid smells and pests.

As these can sometimes be expensive and inconvenient, the Labour administration is planning to put a tender out for “specially marked biodegradable starch bags” to encourage more people to recycle their food waste.

However, the Liberal Democrats claim that the latest timescale set for the provision of the bags – summer 2008 – is too long and that a trial could be used to overcome the complicated European rules which Labour say will delay procurement.

Councillor Gary Hopkins, who used to lead on recycling issues at the council, said: “It is important to get this done quickly to boost recycling. Food waste recycling participation is at about 70% at the moment without any liners at all, and now is the time we need to make it easy for officers to go to the remaining 30% of households a have the weapon of the bags available to them- giving people no excuse to do it.”

Councillor Hopkins added that the creation of a “Citizen's Jury” -comprising of up 20 members of Bristol's population to advise on waste issues – would delay important decisions on recycling.

He said: “They have announced the citizen's jury as a delaying tactic – they haven't even got it together yet. They are doing absolutely nothing on recycling at the moment.”

Concerns

Refuting these claims, councillor Price said that the Citizen's Jury was a means by which to listen to people's concerns about recycling – such as charges for waste collections – which she said the previous administration had not done.

Bristol's executive member for neighbourhoods added that the council soon planned to provide plastic recycling banks within one mile of every home in the city and that councillors and officers were working as hard as they could to overcome the delay in procuring disposable liners for food waste.

She said: “At the moment we are looking at what other local authorities are doing and thinking about working with the retailers to provide bags from the weekly shop which would be reused as liners, which would create no costs for the council. Some of the supermarkets are already keen with working with use on recycling.”

The councillor added that diverting waste from landfill was the number one priority for the council.

She said: “We have not really changed the recycling policy from when we took over in May and are just looking to increase recycling in Bristol.”