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Waste Collection Policy
Published: 17/04/2015
天涯社区鈥檚 revised Waste Collection Policy, which has been
devised to further improve its performance and deliver essential savings, will
be discussed by Cabinet on Tuesday (21 April).
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 coming financial year, a number of
changes are being introduced to the policy. These include:
Household Recycling Centres (HRCs)
The Council currently provides seven HRCs across the County. The HRCs 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, Hope Recycling Centre, which is its lowest performing site with the
least footfall, will close on 1 June 2015. An option to restrict the site at
Hope to receive recycled material only would improve performance but would cost
approximately 拢125,000 a year to operate. Similarly, if the site remained open
at weekends only, this figure would be approximately 拢80,000 a year.
Residents who currently use Hope HRC will be able to use either Mold or Buckley
HRC as an alternative. The area will be closely monitored for fly tipping and
action taken against offenders if evidence is found.
On the same basis Connah鈥檚 Quay and Flint Household Recycling Centres will open
on Saturday, Sunday and Monday only from 1 June 2015, which reflects the higher
footfalls at these sites on these days.
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 up to 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, or have presented the wrong bin for
collection. The cost of returning for these bins creates a significant
financial burden for the service. From June 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: Charging for additional brown bins:
As there is no statutory duty to provide a garden waste collection, many local
authorities in both England and Wales are now charging their residents for the
collection of all garden waste. However, as the garden waste collections
contribute significantly to the Council鈥檚 overall recycling performance and the
service is widely valued by customers, 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 1 June 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. This will be introduced from 1 December 2015. 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.
A revised charging arrangement is being introduced which will more accurately
reflect the cost of delivering the service, and which will be reviewed
annually. The charge for 2015-16 will be 拢30 and 拢10 for residents receiving
benefits.
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.
Cessation of Trade Waste Collection Service
The Council will no longer offer a Trade Waste Collection Service but will
provide a list of suitable suppliers to businesses, if required. A normal
residential collection service will be provided free of charge to all places of
worship in the County and to schools.
7 day collections
During the Summer, the Council will 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 provided significant
savings in fleet costs and 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 always grateful to our residents for their continued commitment in
recycling their waste. The level of recycling collected through our weekly
kerbside collections means that the county is in the top quartile in Wales, but
we must continue to work hard to increase our recycling performance. The Waste
Collection Policy has been revised as part of our challenge to find significant
financial savings and making these changes will further strengthen our position
as a leading authority in Wales.鈥�