Council considers ambitious new recycling and waste plans

[Hereford Voice]

Herefordshire recycling and waste collections may change for a greener future

Changes to the way they provide the county’s recycling and waste collection and waste disposal services are set to be considered at a cabinet meeting to be held next week (Thursday 25 November).

With tough new environmental standards on the horizon, keeping things as they are now is not an option, after the council received over 3600 responses to its consultation earlier in the year. In response, 86 per cent said ‘more needs to be done to reduce rubbish and increase recycling’; while 60 per cent accepted ‘the need to change the current rubbish and recycling system’. Over half (56 per cent) of residents favour a separate food waste collection.

If agreed, from late 2023, the changes will see a new weekly food waste collection service and a fortnightly seasonal garden waste collection service. Currently 40 per cent of the contents of the county’s residual waste bins could be recycled and residents have told us more needs to be done.

Herefordshire Council are therefore proposing an alternate three-weekly collection service of paper and card on week 1, plastic, cans and glass on week 2 and all other residual waste of week 3.

Separating paper and card from other recyclables will lead to more being accepted by recycling companies for recycling into new products than is the case now. Overall, residents will have much more recycling capacity and, if successful, will be part of an ambitious attempt by the council to achieve some of the highest recycling rates in the country.

Changes to the way they collect recycling and waste underpin ambitious environmental targets agreed by cabinet last July to reduce household waste by 36 per cent to less than 330kg a year and more than double the county’s reuse and recycling rates from 40 per cent to 85 per cent by 2035. Herefordshire Council hope to end sending any waste to landfill at all by 2035. All this is part of their commitment to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2030

The contract with the current waste and recycling collection partner is due to end in 2023 and cannot be extended. Cabinet will be asked to agree to readvertise the service to the industry. Cabinet will also be asked to exercise an option to agree extending the present waste and recycling disposal contract for a further five years.

If agreed, this will drive further savings for the council on the cost of the disposal contract to help pay for the new collection service. The extension would also secure immediate environmental benefits. These include a 95 per cent reduction in the amount of waste sent to landfill from 20 per cent to just one per cent from April 2022 and steps to ensure all recycled materials can be audited and traced if being sent outside Europe.

As is currently the case, they will work with managing agents, residents associations and people who live in flats to ensure they have a service that reflects their needs but provides maximum opportunities for them to recycle.

For very large families, or for people with medical needs, the council will continue to offer additional waste capacity as they do now.

[Guest]

Oh what a great idea, now where am I going to store the extra bins, I certainly don't need a waste food bin, some of us can't afford to waste food. The idiots that are proposing this are not living in the real world. Stop the retailers/supermarkets from producing unnecessary packaging, that would be a good start. I despair.

[Paul Jones]

6 hours ago, Jodmas said:

Oh what a great idea, now where am I going to store the extra bins, I certainly don't need a waste food bin, some of us can't afford to waste food. The idiots that are proposing this are not living in the real world. Stop the retailers/supermarkets from producing unnecessary packaging, that would be a good start. I despair.

Agree with you, where are people supposed t put all of these bins. You see them outside homes in other cities and it just looks a mess.

[megilleland]

If the council are serious about recycling then replace the single bins throughout the city and along Great Western Way with 3 section bins for recycling waste. 

In terraced streets one large multi-sectioned bin or waste receptacle for several households would reduce the number of bins to be used.