23 October (Part 2) - Recycling proposals. Changes are on the way
It
wasn’t the first item on the Places Scrutiny Agenda but perhaps it was the most
important; Bexley Council thinks it is time to make changes to its successful
recycling scheme. Out will go the wind blown boxes and in will come yet more wheelie bins.
The existing Serco contact expires at the end of March 2019 which provides an opportunity for fresh ideas.
Deputy Director David Bryce-Smith
illustrated his comments with a slide presentation.
The options available include setting up a local authority company, bringing the
service back in-house and seeking a contractor again. Slide
4 shows what the other London boroughs are doing.
All of what follows are proposals which will be studied by a cross-party
sub-Committee and some addresses, such as the 20,000
flats, would require different arrangements as they do now.
If wheelie bins replace collection boxes there will be two more,
one for plastic, cartons, glass and tins and the other one for paper and
cardboard. Both will change from weekly to fortnightly or even three weekly
collection. The food and garden waste services will continue unchanged at weekly
and fortnightly intervals respectively but the residual waste could switch to a three week cycle.
In the event of a three week cycle being chosen special provision would be made for nappies and incontinence pads.
Currently about half of the residual waste could be recycled and
experience has shown that the glass boxes are almost never full. Glass
collection is posing a Health & Safety issue because of the noise it creates when
tipped into the collection truck. Mixing it with the plastic and cartons will reduce the noise impact.
A three weekly system would reduce the number of collections annually from 23·5
million to 13 million but each one would take longer. Tipping boxes into a big
bin is a lot quicker than hitching a wheelie bin to a hoist. Estimates suggest
that a three weekly schedule could increase the recycling rate by 5%.
The final idea is to move to a four (longer) day service which would avoid the Bank
Holiday Monday problem and result in better loading of vehicles.At present they tend
to return to base at the end of the day with their second load only half full. Such a change is not imminent
but needs to be considered over the next three or four years.
Councillor Gareth Bacon (Conservative, Longlands) who was heavily involved in setting up the existing
system said he would need to see all the calculations that have led to these
proposals and any impact on fly tipping. He said the longer collection day was
not introduced ten years ago because of the likely impact on early evening road traffic.
Councillor Val Clark (Conservative, Falconwood & Welling) was concerned about the mixed message being sent to residents. The Council had
spent years telling residents to separate paper, glass and plastic and tins and
now it is saying it is OK to mix them up. She also thought, probably correctly,
that a mixture of one, two and three weekly collections would make it impossible
to remember which collection was next due.
Mr. Bryce-Smith said that the separation processes have improved since the
present scheme was introduced and reminded Councillor Clark of the H&S issues with collection glass separately.
Councillor Stefano Borella (Labour, Slade Green & Northend) didn’t think a three
weekly cycle would be popular. He shared Councillor Clark’s concerns about
confusing residents with no longer separating waste and made some suggestions
for reorganising the recycling centres. Having made my very first visit to
Thames Road depot two weeks ago I very much agree that improvements are needed there.
Chairman Melvin Seymour (Conservative, Crayford) was not enthusiastic about the
prospect of a four day week for workers, it was a demanding occupation and that should not be underestimated.
Councillor June Slaughter (Conservative, Sidcup) was critical of the way some
residents are still putting more or less everything in the residual (green) bin
and do not use their food waste bin. I think she has been poking her nose into some of my neighbours’ bins.
Vice-Chairman
Nigel Betts did not agree with his Chairman, he thought a four day week would be
an attractive proposition for the operatives but a three week cycle would be
confusing and “it would put a lot off people off recycling because everything was just too complicated”.
Councillor Nicola Taylor (Labour, Erith) was another who believed that mixed intervals of up to three
weeks would prove confusing and might increase the number of reports of missed
bins. “Had those costs been factored in? Two weekly bin collections already
cause overflowing and it increases street cleaning costs.”
Wheelie bins present problems for the disabled as they are heavy and more may
not be helpful. She did not like the idea of some people having to put an
identifiable incontinence bin outside their house. The Chairman thanked her for a good point well made.
Deputy Director Bryce-Smith said that he was not aware that other Councils which
had adopted similar systems had seen an increase in the number of missed collections.
The sub-Committee will in due course reach its
verdict and one must hope that all the best ideas are adopted.