Now then…..about that 3 weekly waste collection idea….

Focus on re-cycling
Cllr Smedley has a peep into the recycle bin of life.

In the 2015 elections we promised to oppose any attempt by Sedgemoor Tories to change 2 weekly rubbish collection  to 3 weekly. Now it’s on the cards and we need to honour that promise. As Chair of Sedgemoor’s Corporate Scrutiny Committee I’ve asked for the proposal to be looked at in detail at our next meeting on Wednesday 7th December. This means that members of the public can attend and contribute to the meeting. But let’s first look at the actual report and the proposals.

It’s no surprise that the proposed changes are really to do with money and making savings. In this case £1.7m per year. The policy is dressed up in the environment friendly  brand ‘Recycle More’ which provides the headline justification for the move to 3 weekly collection.

Recycling is a good thing

recycle-2
Even Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers can get recycled

Recycling is obviously a good thing. From 2004-2011 the introduction of the  ‘Sort It’ service, involving weekly recycling and food waste and fortnightly refuse collections had the effect of doubling recycling and halving refuse disposal because it made recycling more convenient.

Extending recycling is therefore an obvious way forward. There is considerable demand to include plastics in the collection and to a lesser extent cartons such as tetra pak.

Another key opportunity is the fact that the fleet of vehicles now needs replacing and larger vehicles could accommodate this.

Recycle More

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Are we being (adequately) serviced?

The ‘Recycle More’ experiment was trialed in Taunton Deane and included some categories of plastic -pots, tubs, containers, plus different frequencies of collection. This so called ‘Wiveliscombe trial’ will be used to justify the increase in recyclables matched against a lessening of frequency of collection of refuse as the survey showed 86% saying they would wish to keep 3 weekly refuse collection rather than go back to 2 weekly but without the extra recycling. However, maybe this wasn’t such a fair choice and could sound slightly blackmaily? It’s also true that Wiveliscombe is not at all similar to Bridgwater and such urban areas and in fact already had a higher than average recycling tendancy. Maybe this is why the area was targeted?14 Local authorities across the country operate the 3 weekly refuse collection service, the closest to us being East Devon

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Packaging. A good thing or worse than Fascism,? You decide.

The proposals for Sedgemoor are as follows;-

  • Continued weekly recycling collections using the kerbside sort method with the following added to materials accepted: plastic pots, tubs and trays, small electrical appliances and batteries.
  • Continued weekly food waste collections.
  • An additional reusable bag with cover provided for plastics and cans
  • Refuse collected every three weeks. Current guidelines for refuse capacity will be applied and, where needed and requested, additional sack or bin capacity will be provided for nappies and adult absorbent hygiene products.

There are additional service arrangements proposed for Recycle More communal collections from blocks of flat, namely :

  • Continued recycling collections using shared bins with cardboard and plastic bottles, pots, tubs and trays added to materials accepted
  • Shared refuse bins emptied so that no more than 80% of the refuse capacity on each site has been filled and all bins are emptied at least every fortnight, except where sites require a more frequent collection or a different frequency has been agreed by SWP’s Contract Manager.
  • Small blocks or groups of flats will be offered the household collection service where this offers improved service and operational arrangements. Where switching from communal collections, the new arrangements will need to be taken up by all residents and existing communal containers removed.
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Can we have too much recycling? (That’s not a request, it’s a rhetorical question)

Public favour 2 weekly to continue

Public reaction to the proposals has been swift and overwhelmingly favour retention of the 2 weekly collection but also increased recycling.

District Labour group leader Cllr Mick Lerry said “Of course we are not going down this route, however, we are in favour of greater recycling,  or more items being recycled. The contract for SWP  will be out for tender and it is important to make sure that three weekly refuse collection is not part of the specification. Where this has been introduced in some areas, residents are paying extra for collection of refuse on a shorter timescale”

Senior Citizens Forum member Glen Burrows said ;”There should be a massive campaign against packaging instead. Why can’t recycling include garden waste, at no extra cost? Why do gardners have to pay extra, when we are doing more for the environment? If 3-weekly is inevitable, we’ll need bigger bins. But the streets will be permanently adorned with garbage”

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Recycling. Fitting in nicely with everyday life and your home. For instance, it’s hard to spot that the house next door has been fly tipped.

Chair of Bridgwater Branch Labour Party, Julian Taylor, said “My concern is that there are properties in the district that do not have the storage facilities to have bins of rubbish for up to three weeks, some struggle with having to wait for two weeks. If you go onto the South Bridgwater development area there are new properties without storage facilities for bins at all”

A word from our Environment spokesperson

On Bridgwater Town Council we take environmental issues seriously and the environment brief has been handed to Deputy Leader and Westover Councillor Kathy Pearce who says “I certainly support more recycling.  However, I am concerned that the proposal to reduce to 3 weekly so quickly is based on a focus to cut costs rather than a true commitment to increase recycling, which I fear will lead to smelly rubbish piling up in the streets.  I would therefore support an interim period of continuing the weekly rubbish collections for a year, whilst trialling the additional plastics recycling.

Cllr Kathy Pearce-Town Environment spokesperson has the rubbish brief
Cllr Kathy Pearce-Town Environment spokesperson has the rubbish brief

Like many people, I am often appalled at the amount of packaging supplied with goods and also the use of plastic trays when cardboard cartons or paper bags could be used.

Therefore, I think we need a two-pronged approach – to increase the recycling to include plastics which cannot currently be collected (and retain the weekly collection for a trial period of one year), along with a commitment to lobby government for a recycling levy to be placed on companies who continue to use excessive packaging and plastic unnecessarily.

I think we also need to further understand, explore and develop the potential to produce energy (through methane) from the unrecyclable waste that we collect.”

What I think…..

So in conclusion I would say that fortnightly rubbish collection and a weekly recycling collection works well.  The only extension should be extra recycling within the existing timescale.

However, there’s also an educational aspect to this and while some households have never had a full rubbish bin, some people will find this target harder than others, often through no fault of their own.

Anything involving food waste needs to definitely still be collected once a week.

Any extended gap in collections of refuse will increase fly-tipping.

reclyclobri
Cllr Smedley has filed his report from the town of Hilversum in Holland where he was recycling an American bluegrass rap fusion band.

People may find they have too much rubbish sitting around when there’s a three-week interval. If it’s sitting outside, this will encourage foxes, rats and especially seagulls who will pull apart anything with the scent of food – even food packaging.

Three-weekly collections will also make it harder for people to remember when the bin lorry is coming next. You could end up with some people missing it and having to wait six weeks before their rubbish is collected and it smells quite bad after just 2 weeks anyway.

I also don’t actually think there’s need to massively increase recycling. They are already collecting most of it. The only extra thing they should be collecting is all recyclable plastic which they don’t currently do like plastic trays, tubs, plastic bags, packaging and bottle tops.

Have your say

If you want to have your say, register to speak at the Scrutiny meeting on the 7th or just turn up and listen to the debate. The meeting is at Bridgwater House, Kings Square at 2.30 on Wednesday 7th December. To register to speak contact democraticservices@sedgemoor.gov.uk or phone 01278 435435 and speak to Andrew Melhuish.

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