Torridge district council could reinstate kerbside sorting of recyclables, 18 months after its collection contractor South Molton Recycle entered administration.
The Devon-based local authority will bring back the collection method as part of wider plans to reduce the frequency of residual waste rounds and increase the types of plastics it can collect from householders.
Torridge council previously operated a kerbside-sort system for recyclables, with a green box for glass, tins and plastics, a green bag for paper and textiles and a brown bag for cardboard.
In June 2015, the council’s longstanding collection provider – social enterprise South Molton Recycling – suddenly entered administration, leaving residents without a kerbside service.
The collections were brought in-house and reinstated by the council in July 2015. While the box and bag system remained unchanged, Torridge advised residents recyclables would not be sorted at the kerbside but commingled for later sorting at Coastal Recycling’s MRF in Exeter.
2018
At a meeting of Torridge’s full council last month (23 January), councillors agreed proposals to improve the collection service from 2018, which are currently out to public consultation.
Among the improvements include adding mixed plastic materials to the weekly dry recycling collections, and introducing weekly separate food waste collections to all residents in the district.
At present, food waste collections are only available to 60% of householders through their fortnightly garden waste service. Under the proposals, garden waste collections would also be expanded to all residents but with an added charge of £35 per year.
Significantly, the changes would also see Torridge reduce the frequency of weekly residual waste collections – making it the final council in Devon to move to a fortnightly system. The council claims the system has a ‘restraining effect’ on the level of recycling in the district.
When contacted by letsrecycle.com, Torridge council confirmed its intention to switch back to kerbside sort – adding it had no plans to outsource the service and would maintain an in-house arrangement.
Range
Commenting on the changes, councillor James Morrish, deputy leader and lead member for Waste and Recycling, said: “The council has thought carefully about the need to recycle more and extend the range of services we offer to as wide a group of customers as possible. At the same time in a large sparsely populated rural district such as ours, the cost of providing services is always going to be a more significant factor then that faced by councils in more urban areas.
“However the proposed changes offer a balanced approach to extending the range of services we provide geographically, offering more opportunities to recycle, while limiting the impact of cost to a small charge per year for garden waste where people choose to receive this service.”
A consultation on the proposed changes will run until 31 March 2017.
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Source: letsrecycle.com Plastic