Bromsgrove chargeable waste collection a ‘success’

• Mar. 12 by Kellie Maddox (1)

Local authorities in Worcestershire appear to be achieving success with their ‘green’ waste collection services, despite charging residents for the scheme.

Bromsgrove District Council – one of several authorities in the county – launched the chargeable garden waste collection in March 2009 – replacing a service that previously was ‘free’ of charge.

Residents wishing to ‘opt in’ must pay £30 to have garden waste collected from the kerbside between March and November.

The scheme is all part of changes being made to the way waste and recycling is collected from households in Worcestershire and Herefordshire.

The Joint Municipal Waste Management Strategy – a document drafting out the strategic approach to waste management and recycling across the two Midlands’ counties – shows how services are being unified in the coming years.

Why a chargeable service?

According to the strategy, the introduction of free collections across the board was dismissed:

This option was discarded as it would result in a significant increase in the amount of municipal waste handled and the cost for both collection and disposal would be significant. The current JMWMS promotes home composting as the key way for dealing with garden waste.

Anna Wardell, Waste Policy and Promotions Manager at Bromsgrove District Council believes the charged service makes sense:

This system works well as those residents that want the system pay for it, rather than residents in flats (for example) that can’t have the service, subsidising those with gardens that want the service.

In 2009/10, 15,588 residents applied throughout the year for the service. To date, we have 13,500 households that have applied for 2010/11.

The council is in the process of issuing brown wheeled bins to households that have signed up and the existing green bins will be used for commingled recycling collections from April.

Meeting recycling targets

It is hoped that creating a uniform system across Worcestershire will make waste collection services more manageable and targets for recycling will be achieved.

The strategy states:

The Partnership has set a target of 43% recycling/composting before 31st March 2014. As new collection and treatment methods are introduced, the Partnership will review its ability to exceed this target in line with the 2015 national target of 45%.

Talking of Bromsgrove’s recycling targets and progress, Anna added:

Over 5,000 tonnes of garden waste were collected for composting last year and we are predicting a slight increase on this for 2010/11.

We are predicting a combined recycling, composting and reuse rate of around 36% for 2009/10 which is well above the statutory target.

With targets set as low as 20% in line with national guidelines, Bromsgrove looks set to exceed these once again this year. But the question remains – why do some local authorities charge for waste collections when others appear to offer it for ‘free?’