LAWR

WASTE COLLECTION Three-weekly waste collections: Is this the magic number? A couple of waste industry 'firsts' have happened this year; the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) published its first ever guidance on weekly waste collections and Falkirk Council was the first authority in the UK to introduce three-weekly collections. Liz Gyekye explores further. alkirk Council has literally taken the word 'ambition' and run with it. This means that the council will not be tempted by the £250m offered by Communities Secretary Eric Pickles to revert back to weekly collections. LAWR understands that the council is the first authority in Britain to implement three-weekly waste collections. So just why is the council changing its collection, what is the background to its move and what is happening now? What will a three-weekly collection look like? Since 2003 the communities within Falkirk have made huge progress in the way in which it manages its waste. This has led it to become one of the top performing councils in the country, with a recycling rate in excess of 50%. However, with the legislative and policy changes introduced by Scotland's Zero Waste Plan (ZWP) and the Waste (Scotland) Regulations 2012 (WSR) means that, as a council it had to continue to improve the environmental performance of its waste collection service. It was agreed at a council meeting in 2012, that following the introduction of the food waste collection service in, that the council would require to review its waste collection service holistically to ensure compliance with the Waste (Scotland) Regulations 2012. Fast forward to now and its 80,000 residents are currently getting their non-recyclables collected every fortnight. They have had a fortnightly collection for a total of ten years. From mid-May, during the first phase of the system, 18,000 residents will receive a new service. A review of the new system will take place in August. The non-recyclable bin (green bin) will be collected every three weeks instead of every two weeks. Everything else will remain the same. Resident's food waste caddies will continue to be collected weekly, their blue bin, brown bin and black box (recyclables) will continue to be collected every two weeks. High-rise flats will not be included in the change. Food waste collected weekly will get rid of unwanted smells and keep them under control, the council states. The challenge will be to make sure that food waste is properly separated to avoid contamination with other materials. It has also launched a communication campaign to provide residents with information about the new system. 'Active participation' Householders who request a larger green bin will have to "demonstrate that they are actively participating in all of the kerbside recycling schemes". Falkirk Council waste strategy officer Robin Baird tells LAWR that the system suits the council. He also says that every council is different and some councils would prefer to reduce the size of their residual bins than introduce three-weekly waste collections. But why introduce three-weekly collections when its recycling rate is high already? Baird says the cost of sending household waste to landfill is rising and is costing the council around £8,000 per day send waste to landfill. He says on an annual basis that equates to over £1.4m in unnecessary waste disposal costs. Waste industry expert and former director of Shanks Ian Goodfellow thinks the system will work and says that there is nothing "wrong with three or four weekly collection services provided you have an efficient separation and collection of food waste". He says success also depends on whether local authorities have entered into long-term disposal arrangements which will dictate what materials "you want to collect". Goodfellow advocates that councils could install food recycling banks at supermarket stores to make it easy for shoppers to dispose of their food waste. He even suggested that authorities could go further and start to charge for waste services, making charges cheaper for those who recycle more. He says: "I know it will sound controversial but F May 2014 Local Authority Waste & Recycling 13 Three-weekly waste collections: Is this the magic number?

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