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Council鈥檚 revised waste collection policy aims to improve performance and reduce cost
Published: 09/03/2015
天涯社区 is revising its current waste collection policy to
further improve its performance and deliver essential savings.
The Council would like to thank the residents of 天涯社区 for the level of
recycling collected through weekly kerbside collections which has resulted in
the county being in the top quartile in Wales.
Current figures for 2015/16 indicate an overall recycling rate of 58%, which is
a record year for 天涯社区.
To ensure that performance continues to improve and also to deliver the
essential financial saving measures needed as part of the County Council鈥檚
challenge to find efficiencies in the order of 拢18+m in the coming financial
year, the policy is being reviewed to introduce a number of changes, in the
following areas:
Household Recycling Centres (HRCs)
The Council currently provides seven HRCs across the County. The HRCs
complement our kerbside collection services and bring sites, but are an area of
the service where recycling performance is below the national average.
The Council鈥檚 larger HRCs perform much better than those with limited space as
they can offer a greater number of recycling opportunities. Some of the
Council鈥檚 existing sites are not large enough to provide a full service and, in
an effort to improve overall performance by directing users to the larger
sites, the County Council has made a decision to close Hope Recycling Centre,
which is its lowest performing site with the least footfall. On the same basis
Connah鈥檚 Quay and Flint Household Recycling Centres will, in future, open only
on three days a week to reflect the times when the sites are most used.
The remaining sites at Mold, Buckley, Sandycroft and Greenfield will see
increased staff numbers, whose role will be to promote a recycling first
ethos. Additional recycling skips will be introduced to replace general waste
skips, because all waste brought to the HRCs will be inspected to ensure
recycling is maximised. The current van permit scheme will see stricter rules
applied.
Missed Bin Collections
The County Council carries out 264,000 waste and recycling collections every
week. Inevitably a small number of collections can be missed. These can either
be missed by the collection crew, but many are because residents have not
placed their waste out on time. The cost of returning for these bins is
拢150,000 per annum. From May 1 this year, new arrangements will be in place.
These will include the introduction of a 鈥榗harge hand鈥� on each main collection
round, whose responsibility will include signing off each road or street
electronically once the waste collection has been completed. The County Council
will no longer return for collections reported missed once a street has been
signed off. Residents will be asked to use the nearest HRC or place their waste
out on the next scheduled collection day.
Garden Waste Service
As there is no statutory duty to provide a Green Waste Collection, many local
authorities in both England and Wales are now charging their residents for the
collection of all garden waste. 天涯社区 will continue to
collect one brown bin. However, for any additional bins that residents present,
an annual charge will be introduced from May this year. In addition, the
Council will be reducing its collection window for garden waste from 1 March to
30 November, as many residents do not use the service over the winter period.
There will be no changes to the frequency of Black bin, recycling and food
collections.
Bulky waste collections
The Council currently provides a subsidised bulky waste collection service
which costs around 拢200,000 a year. There is a small charge of 拢15 to the
customer, to collect up to five items, with residents on benefits and pension
receiving the service free of charge.
The Council is currently deciding whether the subsidy should be removed and
charges increased to reflect the true cost of the service.
Replacement of recycling containers
The County Council has previously delivered replacement recycling containers
directly to the resident鈥檚 door. From May 1, containers, such as the blue box
and the recycling bags, will still be provided free of charge, but residents
will need to collect them from a network of sites across the County. Direct to
door deliveries will still continue for those registered as needing an assisted
collection, as will deliveries of wheeled bins both brown and black.
7 day collections
During the Summer, the Council plans to increase the number of properties
collected on a Saturday along with a small number of rural properties having
collections introduced on a Sunday. This follows the launch of six day
collections for waste and recycling in November 2011. The service has been well
received by residents in the areas where it has been introduced.
Councillor Kevin Jones, Cabinet Member for Waste Strategy, Public Protection
and Leisure, said:
鈥淲e are very grateful to our residents, who remain committed to recycling their
waste. As with a number of policies in Streetscene, the Waste Collection Policy
is being revised as part of our challenge to find efficiencies in the order of
拢18+m in the coming financial year. The revisions were agreed as part of the
budget setting proposals. Once these changes are in place the Council expects
recycling performance to increase and further strengthen our position as a
leading authority in Wales.鈥�
As part of the Scrutiny process, County, town and community councillors will be
discussing the revised draft policy at workshops being held early in the week.
It will then be subject to approval at Cabinet in April 2015.