Switch to alternate weekly rubbish collections to save councils money?

hayley11

We've had fortnightly collections for a long while now, general rubbish is collected one week, the next is the green bin for cans/bottles etc and then also once a month the blue bin for paper is emptied. Took me months to get my green bin, had to contact my MP and everything! So recycling is good if they give you the means to do it.

A._Badger

Ben84 wrote: »

Landfill costs councils a huge amount of money, and this money that is being spent on shovelling rubbish in to holes in the ground could be spent on education, care for elderly and/or disabled people, city maintenance, and plenty of other important areas. The system introduced here a couple of years ago that has alternating collections of a 240 litre landfill bin and a 240 litre recycle bin (still a very generous almost 1000 litre of rubbish a month) has significantly boosted recycling and cut landfill costs, giving us back money to spend on far more important causes. I also think it's justified on green issues, but I think the case for reducing landfill based on its costs to local residents is plenty.

The cost is a complete red-herring, as you should know, being so interested in the subject.

Landfill is expensive in the UK because the government has been told by the EU to impose taxes to reduce its use.

Thus, from the indefatigable Dr Richard North, we learn that failure to comply with the latest EU demands on shutting down the use of landfill, means a further (note the 'further') payment of £500 million to the EU's coffers.

Councils are caught in a Catch 22 by all this. As Dr North explains ( http://eureferendum.blogspot.com/search?q=landfill ): "The problem here is that dumping 2.4 million tons in landfill costs councils about £150 million, including tax. But, to divert it to other disposal options will cost between £250 and £500 million, with a significant capital investment for the waste handling and treatment – possibly £1-2 billion."

So if they use landfill, they are taxed by the government (acting under orders from the EU) to the tune of £48 per ton. And if they don't, the country faces a cost running into billions.

It is, of course, economic madness and something tax payers are told absolutely nothing about.

savemoney

I was apprehensive when our council did the fortnightly collection of none recyclables 3 years ago given you get a lot of rubbish when you have a growing family.

That said we have in all that time not had problems with rubbish building up, we do get less recyclable stuff in blue bin but this is because we dont have much newspapers etc to throw away

The only sticking point is that gap at Xmas but our council at least dont miss weeks maybe odd day due to bank holidays or xmas.

We dont have any problems with smelly bins, I keep it clean, all rubbish bagged and bin is cleaned every 2 weeks in Summer (5 minute job) maybe 4 weekly in Winter. We also keep lid closed at all time accept when putting stuff in or cleaning the bin when empty

Normally fortnight green bin non recyclables is around 85-95% full and is heavy, blue bin, cans, tins, paper around 65-80% full

WestonDave

Trouble with statistics is that they don't tell the full story.

The latest figures I can find put our council (Bath and North East Somerset) 67th out of 394 in terms of recycling and composting performance where 1st is the best. That is despite the fact that we get weekly general rubbish collections. Those figures were for 2007/08, and I would imagine the 2009/10 figures will be a big improvement on that as we have since had weekly kerbside food plastic packaging added to the list of what is collected for recycling, with food waste to be added in November 2010. It is simply not the case that fortnightly general waste collection equals better recycling performance as it is perfectly possible for councils to get it right without if they have the will. In our case many of the streets are unsuitable for wheely bin collection so all rubbish is collected in black bags - so leaving it to fortnightly would attract pests. Our council has therefore had to work harder to encourage people to recycle rather than just degrading service to force them into it.

We now only have one small black bag per week for a family of four - glass, tins, plastic bottles, plastic food packaging (other than film or black plastic), paper, cardboard and garden waste are all collected from the doorstep. We also compost uncooked fruit/veg waste.

I would also argue that black bag collection (other than the black bag itself adding to the waste) makes for more cost efficient service (if we are talking costs). It is a lot quicker to get householders to place bags kerbside so the collectors just have to lob them in the back, than to have to wheel out a bin, wait for the machine to empty it and then return it to the kerb. You are also much less likely to have exemptions where the crew have to collect the bin from the storage site on the property and take it to be emptied (because the householder is medically incapable of moving it).

Ben84

A._Badger wrote: »

The cost is a complete red-herring, as you should know, being so interested in the subject.

Landfill is expensive in the UK because the government has been told by the EU to impose taxes to reduce its use.

Thus, from the indefatigable Dr Richard North, we learn that failure to comply with the latest EU demands on shutting down the use of landfill, means a further (note the 'further') payment of £500 million to the EU's coffers.

Councils are caught in a Catch 22 by all this. As Dr North explains ( http://eureferendum.blogspot.com/search?q=landfill ): "The problem here is that dumping 2.4 million tons in landfill costs councils about £150 million, including tax. But, to divert it to other disposal options will cost between £250 and £500 million, with a significant capital investment for the waste handling and treatment – possibly £1-2 billion."

So if they use landfill, they are taxed by the government (acting under orders from the EU) to the tune of £48 per ton. And if they don't, the country faces a cost running into billions.

It is, of course, economic madness and something tax payers are told absolutely nothing about.

I know that the landfill tax is being increased due to EU guidelines intended to reduce landfill use. I did support this as the current cost of landfill does not well represent the environmental costs, but there are some problems with it all now. Lots of councils want to build incinerators, which reduce the volume but do little to help the environmental problem with landfill. Post consumer waste is also a material bought and sold like any other, but not produced like any other. We make lots of it and the amount has no direct connection to market demand, we produce it no matter what. Price slumps and even shortages of buyers are ongoing problems.

However, I am still certain we must reuse and recycle things, not discard them in large amounts, only now that taxing landfill use more isn't the solution alone or even by itself certain to do this. Insisting that the waste is disposed of differently does nothing to stop the production of it, which is much of the problem. We need to make less rubbish.

I've found it quite easy to throw away very little rubbish, we have about one supermarket bag a week from a house of four adults that goes to landfill. There are many ways to make better use of materials, many items don't need packaging, and many forms of packaging that are hugely more resource efficient. With better support from retailers and manufactures, which the government could encourage, a lot of the waste we currently produce could be simply designed so that it never existed in the first place.

When you consider how much of the stuff we throw away never needed to be made, both the resources and money we spend on its production and its disposal are being wasted. The cost to landfill is (excluding new taxes) cheaper than other options, but it's still wasted money we can and should spend on other things.

Mids_Costcutter

A._Badger wrote: »

The cost is a complete red-herring, as you should know, being so interested in the subject.

Landfill is expensive in the UK because the government has been told by the EU to impose taxes to reduce its use.

Thus, from the indefatigable Dr Richard North, we learn that failure to comply with the latest EU demands on shutting down the use of landfill, means a further (note the 'further') payment of £500 million to the EU's coffers.

Councils are caught in a Catch 22 by all this. As Dr North explains ( http://eureferendum.blogspot.com/search?q=landfill ): "The problem here is that dumping 2.4 million tons in landfill costs councils about £150 million, including tax. But, to divert it to other disposal options will cost between £250 and £500 million, with a significant capital investment for the waste handling and treatment – possibly £1-2 billion."

So if they use landfill, they are taxed by the government (acting under orders from the EU) to the tune of £48 per ton. And if they don't, the country faces a cost running into billions.

It is, of course, economic madness and something tax payers are told absolutely nothing about.

I was unable to find the figures from Dr. North after following the link, but wonder if the £150m figure quoted represents the true costs of landfill or just landfill tax and transport? Does it include the costs of wasted materials, running costs for the landfill site, environmental impacts etc?

Unfortunately the free market is not able to solve all problems, hence the landfill tax is quite necessary.

tripled

My local council provides a separate lockable food bin, so there is no problem whatsoever with vermin. Having said that, they still pick up black bags and recycling every week. I'm down to putting out a black bag about once a month.

kittycatface

A year ago when i was working as a local journalist the government plan due to eu regulations was to fine any local authority not recycling/composting 50 per cent of waste by 2015.
In the county where I live recycling/composting currently varies between 39-52per cent. Given that nationally this is quite good and "on track" according to our council representatives, other "failing" councils will either find themselves fining those who use black bins a lot (the scary microchips in bins story)or incentivising people who recycle more than they throw away with shopping vouchers etc. (I think the latter is already active in Brighton?). Its up to us the taxpayers to make sure our councillors don't vote to fine us but to incentivise us! Especially with lots of local authority spending cuts coming up due to recession its likely that some will favour fines over incentives. One of our local authorities employs a recycling tsar at a total cost of 35.000 a year who holds roadshows and publishes leaflets. Whatever you think about the new environmental or green regulations you do have a local government vote to ensure you think your money is being spent as you see fit.

Mids_Costcutter

Kittycatface, you say that your county has a good level of recycling / composting. Have alternate weekly collections already been introduced? If not would you like to see them brought in?

It sounds like you wouldn't be too keen on a 'pay-as-you-throw' system though?