Wokingham restates black sack limit

Wokingham borough council has defended its plans to introduce a limit on the number of sacks householders can use for residual waste, claiming that the move will save it money on landfill disposal costs and increase its recycling rate.

The proposals, which would involve most households being provided with 80 75-litre sacks for residual waste every 12 months and having to pay for any extra sacks, today (January 25) came under fire in the national media, with The Express labelling the move “rationing” and The Daily Mail describing it as “heavy-handedness”.

And, they were also criticised by local communities minister Grant Shapps, who said: “If councils think they can hammer residents with stealth taxes through this sneaky route, the government is prepared to take whatever steps necessary to protect taxpayers' interests.”

The new system is set to be introduced under Wokingham's new waste and recycling contract, which is currently out to tender and is set to begin in April 2012. The plans were originally unveiled last year.

The new contract would also involve a move from fortnightly to weekly kerbside recycling collections and rolling out its charging garden waste scheme borough-wide.

The Berkshire council claims that the combined effect of the changes would be to save it approximately £922,000 per year and Wokingham's waste and recycling manager Peter Baveystock stressed that, while there would be a charge for extra bags, this did not constitute a charge for collection.

“There will be extra sacks available that will reflect the cost of delivery and administration, not their collection,” he told letsrecycle.com today, noting that the exact cost would be decided as part of the ongoing procurement for the new collections contract.

The council has also said it will make extra sacks available free of charge for larger households, but that non-council sacks will not be collected.

And, the council's executive member for waste, councillor Gary Cowan highlighted the fact that while the number of bags would be limited, this approach would also allow it to retain weekly residual waste collections.

“Last year we sent 34,000 tonnes to landfill and recycled 28,000 tonnes last year, but under LATS by 2012 we have got to get it down to 20,000 tonnes and then down to 14,000 tonnes in 2019 – a 30-35% reduction,” he said.

“We wanted to keep it weekly so the only way we can reduce landfill is to restrict people in what they can put into landfill,” he added.

Residual waste

Mr Baveystock noted that the average amount of residual waste being collected by Wokingham's current waste and recycling contractor SITA UK was around one and a half bags per household.

And, he stressed that the council's move was not without precedent, labelling it “exactly the same” as restrictions on side waste being left alongside wheeled bins that had been introduced by other councils.

He also highlighted the lessons Wokingham had learnt from other councils who have introduced limited sack provision, most notably Eden council in Cumbria and Broxbourne in Hertfordshire, which began trialling a bag limit in 2007 (see letsrecycle.com story).

Shapps

Mr Shapps comments on the proposals would appear to raise the potential for the government to intervene in how councils deliver their waste and recycling services, just days after communities secretary Eric Pickles said decisions on collection frequency and arrangement should be made at a local level (see letsrecycle.com story).

However, Mr Baveystock noted that councils' right to tell people what they can put their rubbish in was enshrined in the Environmental Protection Act 1990, while their right to charge for green waste collections was set out in the 1992 Controlled Waste Regulations.

Procurement

Earlier this month, Wokingham completed the pre-qualification questionnaire stage of the procurement for a contractor to deliver the new waste and recycling service.

Mr Baveystock said it planned to name its new contractor in October 2011 to allow them time to develop the new service, and said the procurement was “going well”.