Waste: Radical change (From Witney Gazette)

Waste: Radical change

3:05pm Tuesday 15th July 2008 in Witney By David Horne

WEST Oxfordshire District Council prepares to move to a new regime for waste collection.

The current system of weekly collections of all household waste is not good enough to meet Government recycling targets, according to council leader Barry Norton.

The favoured model, to come into force in 2009/10, is a mixture of weekly and fortnightly collections.

A key element, insisted on in feedback from residents, is that food waste will be separated by all households and collected weekly to avoid problems with smell and rats.

Fortnightly collections will be introduced for any residual waste that cannot be recycled, such as flat pack foam, vacuum cleaner bags, and certain plastics. In addition, the present paid-for garden waste service in green bins (£30 per household) will be offered free on a fortnightly basis.

Details are still being ironed out, but the council is expected to approve the switchover later this year.

Cath James, the council's strategic director for health, said: "We have to have a system in place at the latest by October 2010 because of penalties coming in for not meeting recycling targets and sending to landfill. We want to accelerate it, so we can have it in place before then, but a lot depends on the market being able to take and process waste for recycling.

"The big thing is we are not getting into the game of having rotting food hanging around for two weeks. There will be separate containers for it and collected weekly."

There are now over 40,000 households in West Oxfordshire.

Each has a general wheelie bin for waste, plus two black boxes for recyclables like cans, paper, cardboard, and some plastics. Collections of both are weekly. Under the new regime, there will be four separate containers, probably a collection of bins and boxes.

The authority has recently been bottom of the league in Oxfordshire councils for the amount of waste it recycles. It confidently expects to go top under the new system.

Mr Norton added: "We're aware that other councils, like Oxford, had some complaints and problems because of food being left to rot under fortnightly collections. We are avoiding that.

"It is inevitable things have to change. The system we have is not good enough to avoid the penalties coming into force. We need to recycle more and help the environment."