Huge response to recycling survey - thank you for sharing your views

 The survey – which ended this week – has generated one of the highest levels of response ever seen by the council.

Now cabinet member for clean and green environment, Councillor Chris Coleman, wants to thank residents for sharing their views and helping to shape the future of the service.

Councillor Coleman said: “To say that we’ve received over 3,000 responses is incredible. I have looked at where these responses have come from and I am pleased that they really do represent all areas of the borough. We now have a lot of work to do before we can move on to the next stage.

“It’s important that I take time now to work with officers in analysing the results. We need to take on board everyone’s comments and make sure that the proposals we work up are completely right before they are put before cabinet and full council for their formal decisions.

‘’In the meantime, I’d like to offer my personal thanks to all those who took the time to participate in this important survey and also to all the community centres and public reception points which allowed us to make the survey available in as many areas as possible.”

The next step for Councillor Coleman is to work with council officers to assess the results to the survey and put forward the proposed option for the waste and recycling service to cabinet on 6 December. If cabinet accept the recommendations, full council will be asked to agree when they meet on 12 December.  The council will then go out to procurement and begin the work necessary to launch a brand new service towards the end of 2017.

 

For press enquiries contact: Katie Sandey, communications and web team leader, telephone 01242 264154 or email: [email protected]

 

Notes

The consultation followed an initial survey held during the summer when people were asked how they feel about the council’s waste and recycling service. This gave the council a very clear indication of the areas people were happy with and those which could be improved.  Using this data, the council has now been able to put forward three options for waste and recycling collections:

Option A:  No change to the way your waste and recycling is collected

Your green wheeled bin (refuse) and green recycling boxes will continue to be collected every other week and the boxes/bins you currently use will stay the same. You will simply benefit from being able to recycle more items from outside your own home. This type of collection service helps ensure that the quality of recyclables collected remains high.

Predicted increase in recycling: 2%
Lowest predicted extra cost: £146,000 per year

Option B – Waste is collected every three weeks, with recycling collected weekly

Your bins/boxes will stay the same, but your recycling will be increased to a weekly collection. To pay for this, your green wheeled bin (refuse) collection will be reduced to every 3 weeks. It may be that a more frequent recycling collection will mean that you will use your green wheeled (refuse) bin less.

Predicted increase in recycling: 7%
Lowest predicted extra cost:  No extra cost, a saving of £8,400 per year
 

Option C – An additional wheeled bin to collect your recycle

Your green wheeled bin and recycling will still be collected every other week but you will have a wheeled bin to collect your recycling. You will also still have a separate recycling box so that we can collect your glass separately.
Note: The cost of providing extra wheelie bins (£1million) makes this the most expensive option, so this service can only be paid for if we cut services or raise more money elsewhere. If we cannot find these savings, then we cannot support this option even if it is the most popular

Predicted increase in recycling: 3%
Lowest predicted extra cost: £267,400 per year
 

So that residents felt that they could make an informed choice, the predicted recycling rates and cost implications of each option were presented within the consultation.