Published on:
20
August 2015
The change to a three weekly residual waste collection will position Clackmannanshire's waste service to be more efficient and ready to adopt the Charter for Household Waste Recycling in Scotland, a report to the Environment and Enterprise Committee heard today (20 August).
The report highlighted that the success of Council recycling initiatives which thanks to the support of residents, has resulted in significant changes to the composition and quantity of Green Bin residual waste which is sent to landfill. This now means that at the point of collection, household Green Bins have approximately one-third spare capacity, and means that refuse vehicles and collection crews are not being used efficiently.
In February, the Council approved a change to the refuse collection for residual waste to three weekly to seek financial savings and sustainability gains through improvements to the efficiency of the waste collection service. No changes to the collection of recyclable waste are proposed at this time.
Successful recycling initiatives in Clackmannanshire mean that the quantity of green bin waste sent to landfill has reduced from 12,150 tonnes in 2008 to a projected 7,900 tonnes in 2014. The most recent initiative, the introduction of food waste collections, has seen over 3,350 tonnes of food waste diverted from Green Bin residual waste to recycling including producing green electricity and a fertiliser product.
Evidence from other Councils which have moved to three weekly collection of residual waste, or have reduced bin sizes and retained fortnightly collection, supports changing householder behaviour towards greater participation with recycling services and the consequential improvement in service efficiency and recycling rate.
Communication with householders over major service change is paramount, and a series of householder communication messages will be delivered to inform residents of the changes to their waste collection service. This will include stickers which will be attached to all green bins and leaflets sent to all households.
In keeping with the proposed Charter for Household Waste Recycling, Clackmannanshire's waste services are designed to adapt to the personal needs of households. Where a household comprises four or more people, larger bin capacity will be available provided the household is participating with the recycling services offered. Analysis of census data on household size shows that 5% of Clackmannanshire households comprise five or more people and 11% have four or more people. Any household with people who have a regular need for more green bin space, such as with certain medical conditions, will also have greater bin space provided to meet their needs.
Cllr Donald Balsillie, Convener of Enterprise and Environment, said: "Thanks to the support of our residents, Clackmannanshire is now a top performing Council for recycling. That means that we are sending less residual waste to landfill, which is to be welcomed.
"In these difficult financial circumstances, it is right that the Council operates as efficiently as possible to ensure that we are achieving value for money so that we can concentrate funding on delivering essential services for the people of Clackmannanshire. With the increase in recycling of waste, this means that green bins have around one third empty space and we are using employee hours and vehicle time to travel around a refuse route to pick up less waste, which is not efficient.
"In common with many other Councils, we will be moving to a three week collection for residual waste in green bins. A series of communications are planned to ensure that residents will be ready for the change, and we very much appreciate the continued support from our community to continue to recycle as much waste as possible. People in larger households, or who have particular medical needs will be offered larger capacity for their waste."
The service change to three weekly residual waste collection is planned for the second half of 2015-16. Information about the service change including new day-of-collection calendars for all bin collection services, will be issued to all households closer to that time together with supporting advice and new householder access cards for Forthbank Household Waste Recycling Centre.
The Charter for Household Recycling in Scotland is a declaration of Councils intent to provide services that deliver local and national benefits, encouraging high-levels of citizen participation in waste prevention, recycling and reuse.