AGENDA ITEM NO: 6
ENVIRONMENT AND REGENERATION SCRUTINY COMMITTEE
WEDNESDAY 25 OCTOBER 2006
REPORT FROM CHIEF ENVIRONMENT OFFICER
PROVISION OF BIN CAPACITY FOR LARGE HOUSEHOLDS
PURPOSE OF THE REPORT
(i)
To advise Members of the current policy with regard to bin capacity for large
households.
(ii) To advise Members of possible links between provision of bins and incidence of
fly tipping.
(iii) Members to consider a charging policy for extra bins.
INFORMATION
1.
Arrangements for Disposing of Household Waste
1.1
Generally, Households have three options for disposing of their waste. General,
smaller items of waste are collected through the weekly collection service.
Larger items can be collected through the Bulky Collection Service, or
Households can take the waste themselves to one or a range of Civic Amenity
and Recycling sites.
1.2
The majority of households are supplied with a 240 litre bin. Households
receiving a kerbside recycling service also receive the green bin (240 litre),
along with a bag (80 litre) for newspapers and a box (55 litre) for glass, cans and
plastic bottles. Households consisting of 8 or more within the family with a
large 360 litre bin (trade bin). Members of the Environment and Regeneration
Scrutiny Committee endorsed the current policy on 27 October 2004. Due to
recent Health and Safety issues the Council can no longer continue with the
policy of providing 360 litre bins. The Department is currently supplying an
extra 240 litre bin to these households free of charge. This is only a temporary
measure until the Council decides on its new policy.
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2.
Waste Strategy
2.1
Members will be aware that the Recycle with Michael Scheme is being rolledout to four additional refuse rounds during 2006/07. This means that by the end
of the year over 90% of households will be served by a weekly collection of dry
recyclables and an alternate weekly collection of general household rubbish and
garden waste in 240 litre wheeled bins. Early signs indicate a positive impact of
the scheme; first quarter figures point to a recycling and composting rate of over
26%.
2.2
The aim of the Recycle with Michael Scheme is to make recycling easy and
convenient for residents and encourage them to become more waste aware by
limiting the capacity of the general waste bin.
2.3
The main key drivers for the Council introducing the Recycle with Michael
Scheme are to ensure that the Authority meets its recycling targets and its waste
emissions trading targets set out as follows:Recycling Targets (Welsh Assembly Government Wise About Waste): By 2006/07 achieve at least 25% recycling/composting of municipal waste with
a minimum of 10% recycling and 10% composting.
By 2009/10 achieve at least 40% recycling/composting of municipal waste with
a minimum of 15% recycling and 15% composting.
Landfill Directive: A target limiting the amount of biodegradable municipal waste (BMW)
landfilled by each local authority in any given year:By 2010 to reduce the amount of BMW going to landfill to 75% of that
produced in 1995
By 2013 to reduce the amount of BMW going to landfill to 50% of the 1995
figure
By 2020 to reduce the amount of BMW going to landfill to 35% of the 1995
figure.
Wrexham’s Allowance under the Waste and Emissions Trading Act 2003: Year
Total landfill
allowance of
BMW
2.4
Oct
2004/05
2005/06
2006/07
2007/08
2008/09
2009/10
26,942
49,674
45,465
41,256
37,047
32,837
The Council currently has to pay a landfill tax of £21 per tonne and this is set to
rise by £3 per year until it reaches £35 per tonne in 2011. This sum has to be
paid in addition to the gate fee for landfill and before any penalties are added by
the Welsh Assembly Government, at £200 per tonne for failing to meet the
Waste and Emissions Trading targets as above.
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2.5
In the Welsh Assembly’s document “Wise About Waste” – June 2002, the
Council committed to adopt the following waste hierarchy:


Reduce
Reuse
Recycle
and also encourage residents through an education process to follow these
criteria.
2.6
The current collection criteria works as follows:Week 1 - collection of the black bin (240 litre), along with a re-usable bag (80
litre) for newspapers, magazines and junk mail and a box (55 litre) for glass,
cans and plastic bottles.
Week 2 - collection of the green bin (240 litre), along with a bag (80 litre) for
newspapers and a box (55 litre) for glass, cans and plastic bottles.
The capacity of this collection is 375 litres per week.
2.7
The Council also provides home composters at cost price, the current price
being £11.47 (220 litres) and £13.23 (330 litres) and will provide extra
recyclable containers ie, green bin, green box and green bag for any residents
free of charge. It also provides three Household Recycling Centres based at:


Bryn Lane, Wrexham Industrial Estate
Brymbo, Solway
Plas Madoc
These sites are available to take any recyclable material as well as any residual
waste. The Council also provides 24 Neighbourhood Recycling Centres (see
Appendix 1).
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Links between Household Collection Service and Fly tipping
3.1
Members have asked for information regarding possible links between the level
of household waste collection service offered and incidents of fly tipping.
Appendix 2 presents information which has been gathered from Flycapture, the
national fly tipping database, and MVM, the Environment Department
information system. Key messages are as follows:

Most fly tipping (76%) is household waste – suggesting that fly tipping is
not predominantly carried out by irresponsible traders, but is carried out by
domestic households.
There are more service requests for a chargeable bulky collection (19%),
than for fly tipping (13%) – this might suggest people are generally
responsible and would rather pay for a collection than fly tip.
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


Many of the most common items fly tipped (green waste and some white
goods) could be collected free of charge or taken to a Household Recycling
Centre – are they fly tipped because people do not know this?
The combined total for chargeable bulky collections and fly tipping (32%) is
slightly less than the level of requests for a free collection (35%) – this
might suggest that is we stopped charging, fly tipping would decrease.
Fly tipped waste is sent to landfill, which is increasingly costly. The
majority of it is household waste, much of which could probably be
recycled. Further investment in educating and encouraging people to recycle
might result in both a reduction in fly tipping and in a reduction in landfill
charges.
3.2
Data on fly tipping indicates that many households are choosing to fly tip
household waste, much of which could be recycled or taken to a Household
Recycling Centre.
3.3
Information from a variety of sources (eg North Wales Police, Amenity
Wardens, Equalities Manager) suggests that many households occupied by
students and by migrant workers face difficulties coping with the current waste
collection and recycling regime, and that this is leading to an increase in
flytipping in the immediate area. It is unclear at this stage whether this is due to
lack of understanding (eg where English and Welsh are not the first language of
the residents), lack of ability (eg where there are many adults living in a
household and so the provided receptacles are not sufficient), or a need for
further education/awareness support on how to reduce waste and recycle.
3.4
When the Council introduced wheeled bins in the early 1980’s it was found that
Wrexham’s waste growth increased dramatically. Therefore, there is no
guarantee if residents do have an extra residual bin they would continue to
recycle. The Welsh Assembly Government commissioned a report in December
2003 – “The Composition of Municipal Solid Waste in Wales”. The results
indicated that 64% of municipal solid waste could potentially be recycled or
composted. Members will also be aware that the UK Government has indicated
that it may consider introducing waste charges (Chip in the Bin) for
householders, on the amount of waste they produce.
3.5
The Council’s current policy is to charge £40 for new bins in new properties and
should Members wish to reduce the criteria from 8 to 6 (the common maximum
in local authorities), then obviously this will have cost implications.
Unfortunately, there is no known method of identifying how many properties
have 6 or more in residence and if Members do decide to change this policy
there could be an unknown financial burden.
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RECOMMENDATION
That Members consider the report and evaluate the information within to recommend
to the Executive Board:(i)
Whether to recommend further investment in translation and targeted
education programmes in order to encourage people to recycle.
(ii)
Whether to recommend a change in present policy for providing an extra
refuse bin to households with 8 or more people only.
(iii)
Whether to recommend a change to the present policy of charging £17.50 for a
bulky collection of up to 5 items. (Fridges and Freezers are collected free of
charge, and people in receipt of Incapacity Benefit receive the service free of
charge).
(iv)
How they wish to proceed with regard to the present policy and charging for
the provision of an extra refuse bin.
BACKGROUND PAPERS
None
WEBSITE INFORMATION
None
Report Ref: CEnO/22/06S
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Appendix 1
WREXHAM’S NEIGHBOURHOOD RECYCLING CENTRES
1. Bangor-on-Dee; Buck House Hotel
2. Bradley; Gwersyllt Cricket Club
3. Brynteg; Quarry Road
4. Cefn Mawr; Ty Mawr Country Park
5. Coedpoeth; Coedpoeth Community Centre
6. Chirk; British Legion Car Park
7. Chirk; Pentre School
8. Goulbourne; Goulbourne Public House
9. Gresford; Plough Public House
10. Gwersyllt; Somerfield Car Park
11. Holt; Holt Community Centre, Frog Lane
12. Kings Mill; Kings Mill Public House
13. Llanarmon DC; Community Centre Car Park
14. Pontfadog; Pentre Church in Wales School
15. Marchwiel; Marchwiel Scout HQ, Station Avenue
16. Moss Valley; Moss Valley Golf Club
17. Pentre Gwyn Community Centre, Wrexham
18. Penycae; Black Horse Public House
19. Plas Madoc; Plas Madoc Leisure Centre
20. Prices Lane Community Centre, Wrexham
21. Queensway Recycling Centre, Queensway
22. Rhosllanerchrugog; Bonc Wen Car Park
23. Salop Road; Green Dragon Public House, Wrexham
24. Victoria Road Car Park, Wrexham
These sites have a full range of banks including:




Paper
Glass containers
Cardboard (flattened)
Plastic bottles (no pots or tubs)
Mixed food and drinks cans (washed and squashed)
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Appendix 2
1. Requests for Service
The public make most use of the free services. Requests for collection of
fridge/freezers and non-chargeable bulky collections make up 68% of all service
requests. We have recently changed the entitlement criteria for non-chargeable
collections (now limited to people in receipt of Incapacity Benefit only), which might
reduce the number of service requests.
Requests for Service
1800
1,710
1,611
1600
1400
1200
1000
942
800
619
600
400
200
0
Fly tipping
Fridge/freezers
Bulky - chargeable
Bulky - non-chargeable
As well as measuring the number of service requests, we measure the weight of what
is collected. Tonnage of fly tipped waste is far higher than that of other waste. This
has an impact on collection and disposal costs. It also suggests that people will go to
a great deal of effort to fly tip (eg enlisting the help of other people, using a trailer or
van), rather than arrange and pay for a bulky collection.
Tonnage Collected
1,400
1,200
1,181
1,000
800
600
400
259
200
65
0
Fly tipping
Bulky collection
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Fridge/freezers
2. What is fly tipped
Over half of all the fly tipping which takes place (51%) is made up of “black bags
household” (24%) and “other household waste” (26%). The next three highest
categories are:



Green waste (9%)
Construction/demolition (8%)
White goods (7%)
This suggests that fly tipping is not predominantly carried out by irresponsible traders,
but is carried out by domestic households.
What is Flytipped
160
148
137
140
120
100
80
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60
44
43
40
30
29
29
28
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3. Where fly tipping occurs
The Report shows that the two most common areas for fly-tipping are Highways (381 incidents,
65%) and Council Land (128 incidents, 22%).
Where Flytipping Occurs
450
400
381
350
300
250
Series1
200
150
128
100
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29
23
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4. Costings
It has not been possible to identify detailed costing for collecting bulky collections and fly tipping.
Both rely on a small team of men and a collection vehicle, the size of team and vehicle varies
according to what is being collected.
A significant part of the cost of the service is Disposal charges.
Disposal Costs
£35,000
£32,981
£30,000
£25,000
£20,000
£17,713
£15,000
£9,574
£10,000
£5,000
£0
Fly tipping
Bulky collection
Fridge/freezers