LAWR

WASTE COLLECTION 14 Local Authority Waste & Recycling May 2015 maximum to ensure environmental and cost-effective services can be delivered." Four-weekly in Fife Fife Council has also recently announced that it will trial four-weekly collections of residual waste as one of two options aimed at increasing recycling and saving money. The other option will see general waste collected once every three weeks. Both pilots will run for 12 months and include 4,000 homes in all (see box). Chris Ewing, chief operating officer at Resource Efficient Solutions, the company set up by Fife Council to provide waste and consultancy services, says "the trial won't start until September and we've yet to decide where in Fife but we've decided to find out more because it could improve recycling figures and save the council money". According to a report to the council, savings in the event of a successful rollout of either of the two options to all residents could reach £350,000 per year. By 2021, when landfilling of residual waste will no longer be an option in Scotland, savings could soar to £900,000. Recycling rates could go well beyond the 60% target too, putting the council in a "much better position" to meet the 70% by 2025 target in the Waste (Scotland) " We've all made three-weekly collections work, so there is no reason other authorities cannot make it work " Some councils are looking to stretch residual collections further with four-weekly services. Regulations. Capture rates for cans and plastics are estimated to rise from 49% to 84% or more, whilst food rates could increase from 55% to at least 82%. With ambitious recycling targets to meet and ongoing and intensive austerity measures, the notion of three or four-weekly collections is a trend that is unlikely to stop anytime soon. Stuart at Bury Council admits that he's had a number of enquiries from across the country to find out how its system is going. "There is a lot of interest," he adds. "Of course, you will always get some people opposed to this [but] in due course it will become common across the country. It's well embedded here in Bury and we have proved that it works. Falkirk has also proved that it works. We've all made this work, so there is no reason other authorities cannot make it work." FiFe goes FoR FouR – Fife Council in Scotland is to trial a three-weekly and a four-weekly collection scheme across a total of 4,000 homes in September. Whichever option is eventually selected for countywide rollout, the cost benefits could be significant. Ease of use (householder) Ease of use (operations) Recycling rate Cost (total, including trial) Savings/year Fife-wide (2018-2020) Savings/year Fife-wide (2021-) Payback Three- weekly Easier step from fortnightly, but difficult to keep track of Hard to cover issues on routes 56.3% £741k £486k £1m 2 years Four- weekly Big step from fortnightly; collection cycle easier to track Fortnightly collection for absorbent hygiene products hard to administer 56.9% £708k £360k £921k 2 years Source: Resource Efficient Solutions/Fife Council, March 2015

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