Rubbish Council dumps consultation

8.18.00am GMT Mon 15th Mar 2010

Wiltshire Council (WC) has produced a series of press releases about rubbish. They kept having to re-issue them because the figures referred to were wrong. Now they've abandoned a planned consultation on waste because it dawned on them that reductions in services could cost Conservative candidates votes at the general election.

The Conservative administration was forced to consult on changes to rubbish collections after a cross-party vote to throw out their initial proposals to 'harmonise' the service. The figures published below are still quite unreliable, and we'll be watching the numbers when the process re-starts after the election.

The third option is closest to the 2009 LibDem election manifesto commitment, though we weren't planning on charging for garden waste collection. People are also not being asked for their views on how residual waste should be disposed of - should we be reducing landfill by incinerating or by producing less waste in the first place?

A poll on this website revealed 100% support for option three below.

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Before WC came into being on April Fools Day 2009 rubbish was collected by the four district councils and the county council disposed of it.

Trevor at the recycling bins in Mere

The move from five councils to one means the service is different across Wiltshire and needs to be standardised.

The council is facing tough recycling targets and the cost of landfill is due to double. Currently landfill costs are between £40 and £72 per ton - £4.4 million. This will go up to £8 million in three years. A 40% recycling rate has been achieved and the target is 45% recycling by 2015 and 50% by 2020.

Currently, the differing services, their costs and recycling rates are:

North Wilts - Household rubbish collected weekly, recycling fortnightly and fortnightly garden waste (charged) -average collection and disposal cost per property is £117.25. Recycling rate is 28%.

Salisbury District - Household rubbish collected weekly, recycling (including plastic and cardboard) fortnightly and fortnightly garden waste (charged) - average collection and disposal cost per property is £136.06. Recycling rate is 35%.

Kennet - Household rubbish collected fortnightly, recycling fortnightly and fortnightly garden waste (charged) - average collection and disposal cost per household is £97.97. Recycling rate is 45%.

West Wilts - Household rubbish collected fortnightly, recycling fortnightly and fortnightly garden waste (free) - average collection and disposal cost per household is £115.51. Recycling rate is 45%.

The council wants to ensure everyone has the chance to comment on the proposals and to know the full facts and figures. All the options and costs are being publicised and people asked to let us know their preferred option.

The limited options proposed by WC are:

1: Household rubbish collected one week, recycling the next + garden waste charges

* Annual average cost per household - £123

* Expect to recycle - 43%

2: Household rubbish collected one week, recycling the next + fortnightly collection of plastic bottles and cardboard + garden waste charges

* Annual average cost per household - £131

* Expect to recycle - 44%

3: Household rubbish collected one week, recycling the next + fortnightly collection of plastic bottles and cardboard + weekly collection of food waste + garden waste charges

* Annual average cost per household - £148

* Expect to recycle - 54%