In September, the Staffordshire Waste Partnership approved plans to move to a dual stream recycling service across Lichfield and Tamworth, which will see residents present card and paper in a separate bag from the rest of their recycling. Initial plans were to implement the service in April 2022.
In a Lichfield district council report set to go before the cabinet next week however, Cllr Ashley Yeates , cabinet member for climate change and recycling, estimates that the initial £229,000 set aside for the purchase of extra bins and bags will not be enough.
Cllr Yeates put this down to market conditions changing “unfavourably” in the last few weeks and estimates that the total budget needs £100k more.
The cabinet will consider recommendations to increase the budget for bags and bins to £329,000 on 11 November.
‘Significant’
Cllr Yeates reported: “All the potential suppliers have recently raised their prices significantly in a response to a tightening of international market conditions. Pre-procurement market engagement has indicated a £71,000 increase in the cost of the number bags required by the Joint Waste Service.
“Similar and continuing price rises are being seen across a range of commodities. This is especially the case where there is a reliance on imports; the reusable recycling bags under consideration are not produced domestically.
“For this reason, it is proposed to increase the capital allocation for the purchase of the bags by £100,000 to provide some additional headroom beyond the cost increase indicated by the pre-procurement market engagement.”
The current disruption to import markets also presents a risk to getting the bags supplied in time for a transition to dual stream collections in April 2022, Cllr Yeates adds.
The report reads that officers across the Staffordshire Waste Partnership will continue to engage with providers to “encourage compliance with the detailed procurement timeline that has been proposed”. The council will also explore contingency options for bags not being delivered in time will also be explored.
Plastic shortage
A plastic shortage caused by a variety of reasons, such as the pandemic, has put mounting pressure on the wheeled bin market, meaning many manufacturers have raised their prices (see letsrecycle.com story).
Denbighshire county council is another council to have reported some difficulty in ordering bins, and reported a shortage of recycling wheeled bins over the summer months (see letsrecycle.com story).
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