Wiltshire collection crew and vehicle cuts expected

Waste and recycling collection services look set to be ‘streamlined’ by Wiltshire county council, with job cuts and a reduction in refuse vehicles planned to help save hundreds of thousands of pounds each year.

At a cabinet meeting last week (December 17), councillors agreed to begin implementing the changes in April 2014, when four vehicles and 12 driver and loader staff will be cut.

Then, from September, collection days could change for some households with between 15 and 21 additional job losses expected.

This would mean a total of between 27 and 33 collections staff losing their jobs in 2014, with an overall reduction in the collection vehicle fleet of between nine and 21.

According to a report to cabinet last week, each vehicle and crew removed represents a revenue saving of 88,000 a year, while also avoiding vehicle replacement costs of 145,000.

Furthermore, the council said greater efficiencies can be realised by changing staff working patterns. This is likely to see refuse vehicle drivers and loaders working four instead of five days per week, but with longer working days of 9.25 hours excluding breaks.

Overall, according to the report, streamlining services could result in savings of more than 400,000 per year in 2014/15, rising to 700,000 a year from 2015/16.

Although seven staff applied for voluntary redundancy this summer, the report states, these applications were refused as the council intends to terminate the contracts of agency staff before undertaking a voluntary redundancy process for drivers and loaders.

The council said formal consultation with staff and trade unions had not yet started, but added: The council has been employing agency staff when vacancies have arisen so it is expected there will be very few redundancies.

The council said the changes would mean some residents would see a change in the day their waste and recycling is collected from September 2014.

Current service

Since April 2012, Wiltshire households have received fortnightly collections of residual waste, plastic bottles and cardboard, paper, glass, cans, foil and textiles, and garden waste. This service is operated by Hills Group under a contract until 2016.

However, the council is set to procure for waste and recycling collection services, which could see all the countys services delivered by a single provider from 2016. And, the council is also seeking contractors to develop composting facilities, residual waste treatment facilities and a materials recycling facility (MRF) in the county (see letsrecycle.com story).

Residual waste and garden waste is collected one week and plastic bottles and cardboard with black box recycling are collected on the same day of the alternate week. Wiltshire council operates these collections in-house, except in West Wiltshire, where FCC Environment holds a 2.2 million-per-year contract for this service.

In July, refuse collection crews in West Wiltshire took part in a one-day strike in a dispute over pay with employers FCC Environment (see letsrecycle.com story).

Commenting on the change in services, Wiltshire councillor Toby Sturgis, cabinet member responsible for waste and recycling, said: We are now recycling almost half the waste produced by households in Wiltshire, and it is important we continue to work with residents to ensure this recycling rate continues to rise. Kerbside recycling is an important part of this, and these changes will save money, while continuing to provide the same comprehensive service for our residents.

Targets

The county council which became a unitary authority in 2009 is targeting a 50% recycling rate and aims to reduce waste to landfill to less than 25% by 2014. In 2011/12, Wiltshire councils recycling rate was 42.83%, while the amount of waste sent to landfill was 36.65%.

Currently, 50,000 tonnes of residual waste per year from Wiltshire is processed at the 160 million Lakeside energy-from-waste (EfW) plant in Slough operated by Grundon and Viridor (see letsrecycle.com story).

Meanwhile, another 60,000 tonnes per year is set to be treated at the 24 million mechanical biological treatment (MBT) plant in Westbury under a 25-year contract with Hills Waste, which is set to open later this year (see letsrecycle.com story).