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Residents in North Somerset are reducing, re-using
and recycling more of their waste than ever
before.
For the first time 32% of waste is being recycled or composted
in the district meaning less waste is going into landfill
sites.
This headline figure was presented in a report at the Tuesday 24
October meeting of
the Executive.
The annual review of the waste strategy highlights our
achievements in managing waste and sets out recommendations for
future development of the service.
Especially successful has been our
green
garden waste collection which was introduced in February.
The service has seen an excellent take-up by residents and as a
result we able to reduce the financial impact of landfill tax and
the Landfill Allowance Trading Scheme (LATS) as well as savings on
disposal costs.
The report highlights figures for 2006/07 - from April 2006 to
the end of September 2006 - which show the following:
- The household waste recycling and composting rate is up to 32%
- compared with a target of 29.9% and last year's rate of
20.5%
- Household waste is down 7.4% compared with 2005/06
- Green waste sent for composting is 119% higher than last
year
- Kerbside recycling is up from last year, with glass recycling
up by 8.4%, paper up by 6.5% and cans by 28.9%
- Kerbside black sack refuse collected is down by 18.1% when
compared with last year
- Compost bin sales to residents are up 64% on last year with
2,450 sold for the year ending July 2006
The report also shows that missed bag collections for green
garden waste are down to 80 per 100,000 collections (0.08%) over
the first six months of operation. With household refuse missed
collections are down to just 60 per 100,000 (0.06%).
Cllr Deborah Yamanaka,
executive member for environment and community, thanked residents
for getting behind the recycling and composting schemes: "The green
waste and recycling schemes have been welcomed by residents and
have really taken off.
"The report shows that we are doing well and exceeding our
targets, but also that we are planning for the future.
"A whole series of positive service improvements are in the
pipeline. But we cannot be complacent.
"We all must do more to ensure that we increase the amount of
waste that we reduce, re-use and recycle."
Many improvements to the service have already been implemented
including the following:
- The opening of the new
Backwell
Recycling Centre at the Coles Quarry site
- Automatic number plate recognition software has been installed
at our Weston-super-Mare Recycling Centre and
Backwell to identify high-frequency visiting vehicles
to challenge drivers over the nature and quantity of waste being
deposited
- Plastic drinks bottle recycling facilities have been introduced
at Backwell and will be extended to our
Portishead and
Weston sites early in the new year following public
requests
The safety works continue at our
Portishead Recycling Centre and the temporary closure
is hoped to be lifted and the site partially re-opened in late
November.
The report suggests a number of actions for next year and beyond
including:
- The extension of the green garden waste collections to 100% of
non-flatted dwellings in the district
- Exploring the principle of synchronising collection days for
recycling, refuse and green waste
- Small-scale pilot schemes for different collection
methods
Residents can purchase a compost bin
for £10 which includes a kitchen scraps bin and delivery.
For further information contact our
Streets and Open Spaces service 01934 888 802.
For further information on reducing, re-using and recycling
visit our Waste and recycling
section. |