North Tyneside council is set to move to an alternate weekly collection system for recycling and residual waste from the end of August.
Currently, the council offers weekly collections of residual waste and fortnightly collections for recycling.
The changes to collections have been formerly approved by the council’s cabinet. The authority believes that the new service will “significantly improve” recycling rates and reduce waste.
Decision
The cabinet of North Tyneside has given formal approval to begin alternate weekly bin collections at the end of August
As well as the environmental case for change, the decision was also shaped by the end of a £3.4 million Government grant to support weekly collections in North Tyneside, the council said, which came to an end in 2017.
Councillor Carl Johnson, cabinet member for the environment, said: “That money has run out and we have had look at different ways to manage our waste with the financial resources we have. Another important factor is that waste disposal costs have risen dramatically in the last 10 years.
“North Tyneside Council has the worst recycling rate in Tyne and Wear and it’s no coincidence that we are the only local authority in Tyne and Wear which still operates a weekly collection of household waste.
“The experience of other local authorities is that recycling rates increase and costs associated with waste disposal reduce.”
The change to bin collections was approved as part of the council’s 2018/19 budget proposals earlier this year and forms part of the authority’s plan for tackling waste in North Tyneside
Performance
According to minutes from a meeting of the council’s cabinet, North Tyneside was in the bottom quartile in 2016/17 for recycling performance compared to other councils, despite previously being a “strong performer”.
In 2016/17, the Authority reports to have sent 52% of the borough’s waste to energy from waste (EfW), 38% was recycled and 10% sent to landfill.
Waste disposal costs have risen “dramatically” in the last 10 years, the council notes, from £44 per tonne in 2007, £95 per tonne in 2012, to £122 per tonne currently. In contrast, the Authority paid considerably less per tonne for recycling (currently £12.81). Therefore it was important to “maximise the shift” from green bin (refuse) to grey bin (recycling), the council said.
MRF
Recycling materials will continue to be sent to a materials recycling facility (MRF) operated by O’Brien Waste Recycling Solutions in Wallsend. The North East firm was acquired by Biffa last year (see letsrecycle.com story). Collections are carried out in-house by the council.
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Source: letsrecycle.com Waste Managment
