Westmorland and Furness to trial commingled collections

These collections began on 29 January.

Residents on the specified round have been informed about the trial, with the council emphasising that, for the time being, there is no change in the way households are required to handle their recycling.

The council said it picked this area as residents on the round own a good mix of properties and there is a range of demographics.

A rear-loading vehicle will be used to collect the commingled recycling and it will be taken to a facility to be sorted.

The objective of this trial according to the council is to assess the “effectiveness and efficiency” of a commingled collection system. Currently, the council employs a two-stream system for recycling on a fortnightly basis, achieving a recycling rate of 44%.

For the purposes of the trial, householders on this round have been asked to continue to separate and put their recycling out as usual in the blue boxes and bags.

Committed

Councillor Dyan Jones, cabinet member for customer and waste services, said: “Westmorland and Furness Council is committed to improving and harmonising many of its services, to ultimately ensure that services are all delivered in the same way, and to the same consistent standard, across the whole of the new authority area.

“We understand residents’ frustrations that services differ between the localities and I can assure everybody that everybody at the council shares those frustrations and is totally committed to sorting it out as quickly as we can.

“A complicating factor has understanding the implications of the government’s National Waste and Resources Strategy. That strategy has been published now and we can now move forward with confidence, knowing what the strategy means in terms of services and targets we need to deliver and meet.

“Sorting facilities and technology have improved in recent years so co-mingling is something we need to investigate. No decisions have been made but potential benefits of co-mingling could include less sorting for householders, while the rear-loading vehicles used are safer for crews and improve accessibility to back alleys and narrow streets.