Last year, Cheltenham Borough Council (CBC) languished at 210th place, beating only a handful of waste collection authorities in our residual waste chart. Since then, it has transformed its standing, jumping up to 89th, making it the fourth most improved council. Jenny Dye gets to the bottom of the transformation
From April to June 2010, Cheltenham’s recycling and composting figures sat at an unimpressive 35 per cent, but by the same period in 2011 that figure had jumped to 50 per cent. Between 2010/11 and 2011/12, recycling and composting rates in general went up by 11.4 per cent, and – more importantly – the council reduced its residual waste arising by 68.4 kilogrammes per person. Councillors have credited the authority’s new recycling scheme, introduced in April 2011, for Cheltenham’s improved figures.
Cheltenham Borough Councillor Steve Jordan says: “The main reason for the improvement was that from April 2011 we introduced a weekly kitchen waste collection and added plastic bottles to our doorstep recycling scheme at the same time as moving to fortnightly residual waste collection.”
Prior to April 2011, the service was somewhat lacking: food waste was not collected; residents could recycle glass, cans, cardboard and paper, but not plastic; and residual waste was collected every week, which we’ve seen encourages wasteful behaviour. Indeed, Councillor Roger Whyborn, Cabinet Member for Sustainability, emphasises the impact of the new fortnightly residual waste collections, saying that they have caused “a major step change in people’s recycling habits”.
Dry recyclable items now go into a green recycling box to be picked up every fortnight, and residents have been provided with caddies for food waste. Additionally, the old green bag garden waste service has been replaced by a new scheme, under which locals can pay £36 for one year, in exchange for which they receive a 240-litre brown bin and have their garden waste collected every two weeks. The garden waste goes to a farm site at Wingmore, where it is converted into compost for land reclamation and landfill restoration.
Since April 2011 Cheltenham’s food waste has also been made into compost at an in-vessel composting facility, though Whyborn indicates the council is considering a switch to anaerobic digestion.
And as for dry recyclables, materials are sold to various UK companies. Glass is cleaned, sorted and crushed in Yorkshire, where it is then made into new glass bottles and jars, and plastic bottles are reprocessed in Leicestershire, where they are remade into plastic items. Paper, cardboard and aluminium are also reprocessed and made into magazines and newspapers, cardboard boxes and aluminium products.
The changes were rolled out with significant media, website and leafleting campaigns, in addition to some officer visits to rented housing. Whyborn describes the feedback from locals as “generally positive”, adding: “We are able to report a greatly increased demand in recycling boxes, so far unabated.” He also comments: “Pretty well everyone takes part; the system doesn’t offer the choice not to.”
Another change has more recently been implemented, with the takeover of waste collecting, recycling and street cleansing by Ubico Ltd. Jointly owned by both the Cheltenham and Cotswold Councils, Ubico took over the service on 1 April 2012. (Previously, CBC ran its own service and Cotswold District Council’s contract was with SITA.) Ubico was set up with the aim of maximising the value of the recycled materials it collects from households and is so far reportedly saving taxpayers about £500,000 per year in landfill tax.
Whyborn concludes: “We set out purposely in 2010 to improve our recycling performance – against a certain amount of opposition in council I might add – and through a mixture of political will, and a ‘can-do’ approach by officers who were superb in designing and implementing the scheme, achieved more than any of us expected.”
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How will the government and DMOs address the challenges of including glass in DRS while ensuring a level playing field across the UK?
There's no easy solution to include glass in the DRS while maintaining a level playing field. Potential approaches include a phased introduction of glass, potentially with higher deposits to reflect its logistical challenges. The government and DMOs could incentivise innovation in glass packaging design and subsidise dedicated return points for glass-handling. Exemptions for smaller businesses unable to handle glass might also be necessary. Any successful solution will likely blend several approaches. It must address the differing priorities of devolved administrations, balance environmental benefits with logistical and cost implications, and be supported by robust consumer education campaigns emphasizing the importance of glass recycling.