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Shop NowRecycling Roundup 1st May
Recycling Roundup 1st May
Councils in Kent are exploring setting up a contract for joint waste and recycling collection. Local authorities in Tunbridge Wells, Dartford, and Tonbridge & Malling, are looking into a deal which could begin in 2019.
Private firm Biffa currently provides Tunbridge Wells council’s waste and recycling collections, under a 10-year contract which is set to run until 2019.
Dartford council’s waste and recycling collections are provided by Amey, whilst Veolia provides Tonbridge & Malling council’s waste and recycling collections.
The council recognise that now is a good time to discuss a possible joint contract, and that standardisation of collection services is a good idea. They hope that a joint contract will help to make services more efficient and waste disposal costs can be reduced.
Councils in Surrey have already established a contract for joint waste services. 4 councils, Elmbridge, Woking, Surrey Heath, and Mole Valley, have agreed a contract with private waste management firm Amey to deliver waste services in the borough.
3 local authorities in Wales that missed recycling targets last year have avoided being fined more than £600,000. Newport, Blaenau Gwent, and Torfaen councils all missed their target to recycle 58% of all waste by 2015/16.
But the Welsh government has decided not to fine them, as they expect their performance to improve.
The government set stringent targets for the amount of waste authorities should recycle, reuse or compost, and local authorities who do not meet the targets face fines.
In 2015/16, the target was set at 58%, which 19 of Wales' 22 councils met or exceeded, and Wales managed to recycle 60.2% of waste overall.
Newport and Torfaen councils narrowly missed the target, achieving a 57% recycling rate, while Blaenau Gwent only managed 49%.
The fine for missing the target is £200 per tonne that the target was missed by. So Blaenau Gwent council would have been fined £573,000 while Torfaen council would have been £49,800.
The government said they had decided not to impose a fine on this occasion, but that they would do so if the councils continued to fail to meet targets.
Recycling targets continue to get tougher to meet. The expectation is that councils will recycle 64% of waste by 2020 and 70% by 2025.
Critics have said that the Welsh government was setting a poor example by not following through on their policies to fine underperforming councils. They argue that the fines are an incentive for authorities to improve recycling rates.
Some MP’s have suggested that funding cuts have led to authorities not meeting their targets.
Though the government have hit back, pointing out that Wales is the 3rd best recycling nation in the world, and they are on course for meeting a 70% waste recycling target by 2025.
Bexley Council in London has awarded a year’s free garden waste recycling collection to the 40,000th person to sign up to their garden waste recycling scheme. Residents pay £33 per year for fortnightly garden waste collections, and the council are keen to point out that this works out at just £1.32 per collection.