Berrylands recycling trial set to go ahead
I attended the meeting last night which discussed the Berrylands trial of new recycling methods. I have discussed this a couple of times, but most recently here.
The opposition had called this in for review because they felt that the Executive had not given the Council enough time to consider their proposal for this radical change. They also had concerns about the potential future use of chips on the bins.
I left before the end, when it was clear that it was going to go to full council for all the councilors to debate - the first important thing Council will have debated for about eight years! I have no problems with much of the trial and no problem with it going to full council. This is a big change for the Council and all Councillors should be involved. The fact that this was not built into the timetable for the trial is regrettable. We are told this is because this is the only six week period between school holidays between now and June next year. I think this is a weak argument. I also think that as this is clearly not a trial, but a pilot of the contract they will have to sign up to, it is important that ALL Councillors get it right because it will be ALL Councillors who take the flack when things go wrong. I am sure it is frustrating for the Lib Dem administration but they have no more knowledge of whether they have this right than anyone else.
However, my real concern has always been over the fact that when the Borough has 40% of its housing in flats, to exclude flats from the trial seems crazy. Anyway, the officer concerned admitted this was the case because they were not just interested in running a trial, but in also using the best trial method to limit landfill - the trial area would have the biggest impact on Borough wide recycling rates. This means it is not really a trial. I feel this is the biggest flaw; they are trialling in the wrong area. To not include flats in a year long trial, which will inform the methodology for a 25 year contract, is just plain silly. They should be running this in the area that is going to be the most problematic, not that which will be the easiest to demonstrate success. What sort of contract will it be if it is based on delivering in the easiest part of the Borough.
To add more confusion to the process the guy from SITA told the meeting that they could not role the trial out anyway, because they would need different boxes and not every part of the Borough could move their residual waste bin collection to fortnightly, as they propose. Has anyone really thought this through?
I really wish the trial well and hope it leads to us being leaders in recycling, but you cannot run a trial that only tests out new methods in the places where they know it will work. The guy from SITA (the contractors) admitted this.
6 Responses »
Leave a Response
Entries(RSS)
"....but in also using the best trial method to limit landfill ".
The Council needs to reduce the amount sent to landfill. Landfilling costs money and taxes and what all seem to be forgetting is that it costs the environment in terms of wasted resources and emitted climate-changing gases.
Using a good trial method, (intended to reveal information about collecting from semi-detached and detached households), as well as stopping masses of watse going to landfill sounds like a 2-birds-with-1-stone scenario.
The figures for types of housing stated last nuight were:
46% is semi-detached or detached
37% is 'flats' of one kind or another
which leaves 17% is terraced housing or other types of dwelling.
Some consideration has to be goven, surely to the occupancy level of different dwellings. I would suggest that semi-detached and detached houses have more people per dwelling living in them than do flats - another good reason for investigating the Alexandra-type properties first.
It would seem to me that what the Conservative councillors and Kevin Davis want is for the (Lib Dem)Council to fail to achieve recycling targets so that they can crow about it. What is now apparent is that if there is failure in the coming year it will be due in part at least to the delaying tactics of the Conservatives and Cllr Mama on the scrutiny panel.
The recycling rate in 2005/06 didn't reach 25% it's true, and Conservatives yesterday made something of that. Don't know why. Wasn't the figure 24.8%?
"as well as stopping masses of waste going to landfill". It won't. We are talking about a trial with aboiut 5% of the Boroughs dwellings in an area that already recycles a considerable amount. The pilot will NOT stop masses of waste going to landfill. Rolling it out across the Borough in 2008 might but this will not.
I am all for the scheme going ahead, and I am dissapointed that I am in Berrylands but I am not in the trial area. I have to say that many of those who live around here are not so keen.
The issue about flats is they are the key problem with recycling rates today! The orange sack system for Council flats is not working properly and unless you get that working correctly then this new scheme will not have a significant impact because the only new waste recycling stream is food waste!
I have no interest in a Lib Dem Council failing to meet its reccyling obligations. In fact the more this Council recycles the less landfill tax we have and the lower Council tax will be, in theory.
What I heard last night is that this is an ill thought through proposal, cobbling together a load of thimgs other Boroughs have done and no real political leadership of the officers who are proposing it.
In fact what really revealed the lack of preperation was the fact that the lead officer appeared unaware that currently the elderly get a discount on green waste bags. There was not even the slightest willingness shown last night to amend the scheme to cover that issue and it became apparent that the amdinistartion were not willing to listen and amend.
Oh, on the figures.
Those seem to be the figures from the 2001 census. It would be interesting to know how much they have changed in the last five years.
Forget about getting flats to recycle - many of them can't even be bothered to get rid of their rubbish properly.
If you look at many flat conversions in Surbiton, you will see many have piles of loose rubbish and bags stacked outside many days before rubbish is due to be collected. It looks unsightly and must attract vermin.
Do the council have any powers to enforce the provision of proper bins, of adequate size for these shared properties? If so, why don't they use them?
They do have the powers to direct the type of bin they will collect but they have not done it to date. I understand the trial will include using those powers for the first time. Of course, it does not mean the receptacle will be big enough or that those disposing of the rubbish will use it.
Whatever else, anybody living in the trial area is bets advised notto go out buying new bins over the next few weeks as you will not be allowed to use them unless they meet the new specification.
Why isnt there a common standard on what can be recycled for the UK.I have a few homes in the Uk and every one has a different council with different rules.
Kingston does not even have a suitable vehicle to collect the recycling,it appears to be a converted light truck with agile xchaps scrambling around chucking stuff in anywhere.