| Affordable collections and increasing recycling rates Affordability and the ability to increase recycling rates are key considerations when introducing recycling schemes. Test Valley Borough Council first introduced collections of dry recyclables and residual refuse using twin compartment vehicles, then moved to alternate weekly collections to achieve just this.
Details Test Valley Borough Council (TVBC) has a 50:50 split between urban and rural properties and is one of thirteen local authorities in the County of Hampshire that form part of project Integra, the name given to the integrated waste management strategy in Hampshire. In 1997 Test Valley introduced alternate weekly kerbside collections for dry recyclables and compostables. This was achieved using twin compartment vehicles. Dry recyclables / compostables (depending on the week) were collected in one compartment (30% of the vehicle space) and residual refuse was collected in the other compartment (70% of the vehicle space). The collection scheme was rolled out throughout the borough to cover 98% of the 46,000 households. Residual refuse was collected using either 140l or 240l grey wheeled bins (no side waste collected). Dry recyclables were collected using either 140l or 240l grey wheeled bins with brown lids, or an all brown wheeled bins. The dry recyclables collected included paper, card, food and drink cans and plastic bottles. The scheme was introduced to help meet recycling targets as affordably as possible. Use of the twin compartment vehicles meant that TVBC could maintain a weekly collection of residual refuse, whilst offering kerbside recyclables and compostables collections at very little additional cost. Plastic bottles were included in the recycling collection due to public demand, the fact that this worked in terms of the fill ratio of the twin compartments of the collection vehicles and the fact that handling, sorting and end markets were available for the material. Last year the kerbside collection generated 230 tonnes of plastic bottles, or 5kg/hh/year. In order to encourage greater levels of recycling and waste minimisation TVBC recently changed the collections to an alternate weekly collection of residual refuse and dry recyclables, with a separate fortnightly collection of compostables. This was rolled out throughout the borough, so that collections are now made using single compartment RCVs to collect residual refuse one week and dry recyclables the next week. 1100l co-mingled recycling banks have also been provided for flats, so that the scheme now covers 100% of the boroughs 46,000 households. Once collected, the dry recyclables are transported to either the transfer station at Otterbourne or Harewood, and from there to the materials recycling facility (MRF) at Portsmouth, or Alton for sorting. The Recycling Officer at TVBC stated that the main barrier preventing householders from recycling plastic bottles was that they were unsure about exactly which items should be recycled and which should be placed in the residual refuse. He said that he would like to see an awareness campaign that does not rely upon polymer identification symbols, but on the type of packaging. Including plastic bottles in the recyclables collection was reported to increase public satisfaction and was achieved at very little additional overall cost. TVBC also operate a bring scheme through which they collect mixed plastic bottles with tins and cans in 77 1100l wheeled bins and 6 14 cubic yard skips. Currently 53 of the councils 66 bring sites accept plastic bottles. This material is collected by either a kerbsider or skip loader, depending on the bank type, and taken to the MRF at either Portsmouth or Alton. 38.4 tonnes of plastics (an average of 3.2 tonnes per month) was collected through the bring scheme last year. Further information www.testvalley.gov.uk |
