The Yorkshire local authority is writing to residents this week explaining how from Spring 2014, they will no longer need to use their recycling boxes, which are currently used for all dry recyclables except paper and card. Paper and card are currently collected separately.
Instead, the council will be introducing a new ‘three-bin’ service which will see all dry recyclables collected together ‘commingled’ in a wheeled bin, alongside separate collections for residual and garden waste.
TEEP
The decision to introduce the service comes after the council carried out an assessment of whether the service change would be in keeping with the Waste (England and Wales) (Amendment) Regulations 2012. The Regulations require paper, metals, plastics and glass to be collected separately from January 1 2015 where this is necessary and also Technically, Environmentally and Economically Practicable (TEEP).
Using a Route Map published by WRAP and Waste Network chiefs in April 2014, the council found in a report which went before the council’s cabinet last week (December 2), that it would be necessary to collect paper, glass and metal separately to deliver improved quality recyclate under the Regulations and that it would be technically practical to do so.
However, by modelling different scenarios, officers said it would not be economically or environmentally practical to do so, due to the impact of the increased number of collections required by separate collections on air quality and council budgets.
Costs
Importantly, the council said that collecting each material separately would lead to additional costs of £2.7 million per annum when compared to the commingled service and £1.2 million more than the existing service (see table below). This was determined, according to the council, by analysing a broad range of financial information including the cost of vehicles, staff, fuel, containers, recyclate income and processing costs.
It said: “Increased costs are primarily associated with providing additional/multiple waste collection movements per day. Given council budget pressures these additional annual costs may not be considered reasonable.”
In terms of the environmental practicality, the council meanwhile conducted a carbon assessment of the different waste collection scenarios and concluded that, while a commingled service would save £31,000 through improved air quality, other options involving separate collections would attract a cost.
Setting out the TEEP assessment conclusion, council officers wrote: “Although it has been demonstrated that it is technically practical to collect each material separately, it has been demonstrated that it is not economically and environmentally practical to collect each material separately. The Regulations require that separate collection must be practical in each assessment. If separate collection is not practical in any of these assessments then it is not required.”
Shanks
The changes to waste collections in Wakefield are intended to coincide with the opening of new waste treatment facilities at South Kirkby come next year. These include a materials recycling facility capable of handling 35,000 tonnes of dry recyclables a year and have been developed under a 25 year waste contract signed with Shanks, signed in January 2013.
The council said that the new service would be simpler for residents and would ensure that all material was sent to the South Kirkby plant “in the right way so it can be treated and recycled”.
‘Easier’
Maureen Cummings, Wakefield’s portfolio holder for the communities and the environment, said: “We want to make it easier for people to recycle and have listened to residents’ feedback about the box.
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“Our 25 year partnership with Shanks Waste Management has allowed us to develop the fantastic new recycling plant at South Kirkby, which means jobs for the area not only at the moment during construction, but permanently when it starts operations. The plant will also help us increase recycling rates which, in common with other areas, have been static at around 40% for the last few years.
“We have carried out trials of the new system in a number of areas across the district and it has been well received by the public”.
Councils
Wakefield is the latest council to opt not to change its waste collection service following a TEEP assessment (see letrecycle.com story).
The Environment Agency will be writing to local authorities advising them that they must have an assessment in place for January 1st demonstrating compliance with the regulations.
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