Last weekend, a row broke out over the size of the new black wheelie bins being delivered across the Isle of Wight in preparation for new collection methods starting on 2nd May.
Islanders launched a petition, calling on the Isle of Wight council and Amey – the new 25 year waste contractor – to rethink the policy on who would be eligible for 240 litre and 360 litre bins.
Council’s response to concerns
OnTheWight got in touch with the council for a response to the petition, which at time of publishing had attracted 1,895 signatures.
The Executive Member for Environment (Sustainability) and Local Engagement, Cllr Paul Fuller told OnTheWight,
“Our aim is to increase recycling rate to 57 per cent by 2020, in order to reduce the costly amount of money being spent on sending household waste to landfill.
“Last year over £2 million was spent on landfill tax from household waste with circa 30,000 tonnes of waste being landfilled. This April landfill tax has risen to £84 per tonne which must be paid in addition to the charge to tip at the landfill site.”
60% of respondents wanted wheelie bins
In 2014, the Isle of Wight council held a public consultation on waste collection and recycling.
Cllr Fuller explained some of the findings,
“We conducted a public survey in the winter of 2014/15 which included options for the future of Recycling and Waste. This survey was responded to by 1,344 households on the Island.
“In particular we asked – Residual waste (anything which cannot be recycled) is currently collected in black bags once a fortnight, would you consider using a wheelie bin for this waste? 60 per cent of respondents said yes.”
80% produce four or less bags of rubbish
Cllr Fuller went on to add,
“We asked – On average, how many bags of residual waste (black bag waste) do you produce on a fortnightly basis? The response was that 80 per cent said 4 or less bags with 61 per cent saying 1 or two.
“We asked if residents would be prepared to have more recycling bins in their homes only 50% said yes, so Amey developed a solution to put the additional recycling insert for paper in the wheelie bin.”
The results of this survey were given to the waste contract bidders to inform the development of their solutions and ensure they met the needs of the Island.
Larger bin requests
In response to complaints that the 140 litre bins are too small for larger families Cllr Fuller replied,
“The council recognises that there are situations where larger families, those with two or more children in nappies or with a clinical need, will require some households to apply for a larger bin and this is being made available with the council and Amey already processing larger bin requests.”
Assisted service remains
Some people raised concerns about those Islanders (elderly or disabled) unable to take their bins to the kerbside. Cllr Fuller was able to confirm the assisted service will remain.
He explained,
“We also recognise that some residents cannot physically push and wheeled bin or take their waste to the kerbside due to disability, frailty of temporary/long term illness, these residents can apply for an assisted collection service whereby their waste and recycling will be collected from on their property.”
Adding,
“The council would urge all residents to carefully consider what waste is going in their black bags and how much of that waste could be composted, put in the food waste caddies or be recycled.
“The council conducted a two season composition study of residual waste on the Island in 2012/13 and found that 15 per cent of black bag waste was food that could have been composted, 13 per cent was recyclable paper and 10 per cent was garden waste. Removing these streams would result in a 38 per cent reduction of rubbish.
“If any resident is not in possession of a food waste caddy or a green wheeled bin and would like to order a new one these can be ordered online and clicking on the do it online tab.”
Councils must look at all options
Cllr Fuller finished by saying,
“All councils must increase the amount of waste that is recycled and decrease the amount of waste that is sent to landfill. Councils must look at the options available to them and reducing the size of the grey (landfill) bin has proved to be successful in other areas of the UK.
“We are in line with recycling and waste policies of other councils across the UK, such as Hounslow, Reigate & Banstead, Bristol, Horsham, Oxford, Cardiff, Leicester, Edinburgh, Wigan, Sheffield and rural councils such as Dorset, West Oxfordshire, Denbighshire and Aylesbury Vale in Buckinghamshire, all of whom are using the smaller 140l bins. Under EU directives, Britain must recycle half of all household waste by 2020.”
