Www.northumberland.gov.uk Copyright 2009 Northumberland County Council Harmonisation of Waste...

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Copyright 2009 Northumberland County Council

Harmonisation of Waste Services

September 2010



Agenda

• Background & context

• Outline of policy areas addressed

• Focus on bulky waste & garden waste

• Impact on performance & budget

• Key issues & learning points



Background (1)• Needed to make significant savings as part of LGR

– waste service >£600k

• Needed to harmonise former WCA services

– Equality of service provision – avoid post code lottery!

– Maintain environmental performance

– Generate income/reduce costs



Background (2)

• Joint MSW Strategy agreed 2003– AWC of residual and co-mingled

recyclables (paper, card, plastic bottles, cans, aerosols).

– Bring sites for glass & textiles

– Home compost promotion, promoted charged for kerbside garden waste collections



Areas of Disharmony!

• Bulky waste – charges, number of items, waste types, service standards, operational arrangements.

• Garden waste – charges, containers, period for collections, access to service.

• Bin provision, replacement & changing sizes• Side waste & overloaded bins• Trade waste services & Schedule 2 compliance• Recycling bin contamination & enforcement



Bulky Waste – Pre LGR

• 5 out of 6 WCAs levied charge

• Prices ranged from free to £21 for 3 items

• Income of £130k but collection cost £304k, net cost of £174k pa

• ~38,000 service requests each year

• Collection time ranged 2 – 20 days



New Service

• New pricing structure• £15 - 4 items, £30 – 8 items, £45 – 13• 25% concession if on benefits etc • £10 each for white goods• Full cost recovery for DIY waste – quote• Collections within 10 days



Impact of new bulky waste policy (1)

• ~75% reduction in service requests

• Income £122k, collection costs ~£210k, net cost of ~£88k = saving of £86k

• No adverse impact on flytipping – down from 2322 to 1982



Impact of new bulky waste policy (2)

• HWRCs overall tonnage up from 40,885 tonnes to 42,874 tonnes

• Increased HWRC recycling/recovery rate from 64% to 68%

• BUT charges not popular in the SE area!



Garden Waste – Pre LGR• Free ‘opt-out’ 14,500 homes – Tynedale

• One-off £18 charge then free – Blyth

• Rolls of 10 bio bags £1 – Wansbeck

• Annual charge ranging £15.50 to £30.25

• Seasonal collections 4 areas, 2 right through the year fortnightly &/or monthly

• ~£170k pa income



New Garden Waste Service (1)

• Annual charge £20 per bin

• £1.50 roll 10 bio bags (phased out 2010)

• Fortnightly, 20 collections from March to end of Nov each year – stop in winter

• Extended coverage Berwick coastal villages



New Garden Waste Service (2)

• Charges highly unpopular – lots of adverse press coverage, but only 108 complaints!

• 38% drop in take-up (mainly Tynedale), 25,500 to 16,000 customers.

• Recovered 3,900 bins for reuse



Garden Waste PI’s2008/09 2009/10 Variance

Kerbside Compost

9,113 7,453 -1,678

HWRC

Compost

10,270 10,811 +541

% HW composted

12.2% 11.9% -0.3%

Income £170k £277k +£107k



Overall Impact on PI’s2008/09 2009/10 Variance

NI 191 Kg residual HW per HH 673.8 650.9 -22.9

NI 192 % HW reused, recycled, composted

38.9% 39.0% +0.1%

NI 193 % MW sent to landfill 57.2% 11.5% -45.7%

Total Kg HW collected per head 512kg 492kg -20kg



Key Learning Points• It’s not just about income generation

• Use of charging as policy tool to maintain environmental performance

• Communicate the bigger picture

• Very complex set of variables difficult to pin down cause and effect

• Monitor, review and refine approach

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