Opposition councillors from Labour and the Conservative Party torpedoed the city's scheme at the end of September (see letsrecycle.com story). They said collecting residual waste fortnightly would involve possible threats to human health, despite the scheme originally being a Labour proposal and 80% of householders already on the scheme expressing satisfaction.
Officers have warned that the change could cost the city millions in lost Landfill Allowance Trading Scheme revenues and 750,000 a year more for the infrastructure costs of switching to weekly residual waste collections. But, in a Cabinet meeting held last week, members approved the proposed changes.
About 26,000 households already on the fortnightly residual waste collections will now see their service switching to a weekly scheme to begin in December 2004.
These households will keep their two household bins, with recyclables continuing to be collected fortnightly. Households in the rest of Southampton will be receiving two wheeled bins to separate recyclable materials from residual waste in the first half of 2005.
Some funding for the changes – about 174,000 – will be taken from the council's general contingency fund. The council said it will run a publicity campaign to alert residents to the changes in their waste collection services.
Flats
Away from the fortnightly problem, Southampton has begun rolling out a recycling scheme for schools and flats throughout the city. Schools that have waste collected by the council are to receive new containers to separate out recyclables, while the city's 1,000 blocks of flats are to be given communal recycling bins or mini-recycling sites over the next three to six months.
All high-rise residents will be able to recycle paper, cardboard, cans and plastic bottles, while those provided with mini-recycling sites will also be able to recycle glass.
Commenting on the scheme's roll-out, Southampton's cabinet member for environment and transport, Jill Baston, said: “Our rollout programme for recycling collections is now reaching every part of our city. We want to encourage as many people as possible to make recycling a natural part of our city.”
Council officers believe Southampton will reach a 16% recycling rate in 2004/05, but the decision to opt for weekly residual waste collections is likely to see the city missing its 2005/06 target for recycling 24% of household waste.
Subscribe for free