www.wiltshire.gov.uk
Changes to Recycling Services in West Wiltshire
From 1st April 2007, West Wiltshire residents will be asked to stop including cardboard and vegetable peelings in their fortnightly green waste collection. This action is being taken to preserve the quality of the green waste that is composted by Wiltshire County Councils contractors, Hills Waste.
Since alternate week collections (AWC) were introduced in West Wiltshire and more recently in Kennet, the amount of green waste collected for composting is projected to reach 32,000 tonnes for the year April 2006 to March 2007. This success has brought with it the challenge of securing sustainable markets for the end product. Hills have achieved this by producing a compost that meets the quality standard BSI PAS100 which can be used for domestic applications but also in large scale construction projects. Although green waste from Wiltshire's 10 Household Recycling Centres, together with that collected by the Kennet, North Wilts and Salisbury District Councils, has been of a high quality the ever increasing amounts of cardboard, food waste and other contaminants was seriously jeopardising the quality of the compost, with the risk that the end product would no longer meet the required standards.
Wiltshire County Council has worked closely with West Wiltshire District Council to produce a wide range of publicity material to explain these changes to their residents. A special edition of the "West Wilts Matters" newsletter will be distributed to each household during February and March, and a Community Leaders booklet for West Wiltshire parish councils has been produced giving details of the service changes and the reasoning behind them.
West Wiltshire residents will also be informed that, in order to help provide an alternative method of recycling cardboard, 30 local recycling sites will have their glass, paper and can banks converted to allow them to collect cardboard and plastic bottles instead. With a kerbside collection of glass, paper, cans and textiles now available to some 96% of West Wiltshire households, the amount of recyclables recovered from these sites has reduced dramatically over the past 2 years. It is anticipated that converting these facilities to collect plastic bottles and cardboard will allow them to make a greater contribution to our overall recycling performance. The sites will be converted during February with collections starting 1st March 2007.
For more information please contact Andy Conn, Waste Services Manager (01225 713422) or Martin Litherland, Waste Development Manager (01225 757524)
