Preparing for war on waste

5:35pm Thursday 24th January 2008

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Malvern Hills District Council has signalled that it is ready to bolster its green credentials with a full-scale review of the way it collects rubbish.

More than £250,000 is being earmarked to fund major investment in waste collection and the council is expecting to put options to the public before the end of the year.

Senior councillors said this week that nothing will be ruled out, even issues that have proved controversial such as fortnightly rubbish collections.

The target is a five per cent cut in the amount of rubbish going to landfill and a 27.5 per cent increase in recycling over the next three years.

Decisions have to be taken soon because the council's fleet of rubbish carriers has to be replaced by 2010. The money is budgeted to be spent during that financial year.

Council leader Serena Croad said: "The more we recycle, the less goes into landfill and the less landfill tax we pay."

She said members and officers have been looking at what councils elsewhere in the country are trying.

"It's not going to be easy. It's controversial and you can't please everybody," she said.

She conceded that wheelie bins might only be appropriate in some parts of the town and the council may have to operate a dual system.

"Where I live in Malvern, it's flat and we've got room for wheelie bins, but up in the hills, or if you live in flats with nowhere to put bins, you might have to use something else," she said.

Worcester City Council introduced wheelie bins about two years ago, with two bins for each household. A green bin takes all recyclables (glass, plastics, cans and paper) and a grey bin takes household waste, said council spokesman Barry Cook.

Bins are emptied on alternate weeks and householders are expected to move them to the kerbside, except if not capable. The bins are not fitted with microchips but this system is in operation elsewhere. Green councillor John Raine said: "The key thing is to reduce the amount of residual waste. My own view is that wheelie bins are not very helpful, because they're large and that encourages people to fill them up."

Options on the table Wheelie bins to increase recycling: Advocates of wheelie bins say they have several advantages: No risk of split bags, contributing to less littering; Safer and easier for both residents and dustmen to handle; Less accessible to vermin; Opportunity to increase items to be recycled to include garden waste and cardboard, not currently collected by the council Micro-chips in bins to weigh how much rubbish people are throwing away. It opens the possibility of charging extra for high- volume households Fortnightly rubbish collections are used by about a third of local authorities. They have attracted widespread complaints about smells, vermin and hygiene but a Government-funded study last year said problems were minimal if residents wrapped rubbish carefully and bin lids were kept closed