Cotswold District Council

Press Release from Cotswold District Council

Cotswold District Council’s Council will be discussing a motion on 26th February which calls for kerbside garden waste collections to continue during the winter. The planned switch from weekly to fortnightly collections, with effect from late autumn 2019, will go ahead but will be reviewed before the end of the 2019/20 annual licence period.

Councillors agreed late last year to suspend garden waste collections for a three month period during the winter, and supported the move from weekly to fortnightly collections. At that time the Council said it would consider reducing the cost of the service to offset the changes.

However, the motion calls for the garden waste licence fee to continue at £30 for 2019/20 in return for a continuation of collections all year round, albeit on a fortnightly basis. The whole arrangement would then be reviewed during March 2020.

Commenting on the motion, CDC Cabinet Member for Environment Cllr Sue Coakley said: “I hope that the Council will support this motion because a lot of people have said that they would be happy to pay to retain the service over the winter, even if it means switching to fortnightly collections. If we peg the fee at £30 we would just about break even – at present this amount does not cover the cost of weekly collections and, as this is an optional service, it is important that we ensure the cost is not be borne by all residents. I must add that the annual £30 licence fee is still remarkably good value compared with other nearby authorities who charge more for collecting fortnightly.”

There has been a lot of debate in public about the proposed changes to the waste service. To clarify matters, the key points are as follows:

• Garden waste collections will continue on a weekly basis until we introduce a new fleet of vehicles towards the end of this year – probably during October or November – to replace most of our current vehicles. (These older vehicles are becoming increasingly expensive to maintain and are liable to break down more frequently).
• Once the new fleet begins operations later this year, garden waste collections will move from a weekly to a fortnightly basis.
• Kerbside food collections will continue on a weekly basis, and, when the new fleet begins operations towards the end of this year, residents will be provided with bigger more robust animal-proof caddies for their food waste.
• When the larger more durable food caddies are introduced towards the end of the year, residents must refrain from placing food waste in their garden waste bins.
• Separating food from garden waste will enable us to begin using an anaerobic digester facility for more efficient – and environmentally friendly – reprocessing of food remains. Similarly, we will be able to process the garden waste using a far cheaper and more environmentally beneficial composting method. Additionally, making fortnightly garden waste collections will enable us to reduce our vehicle pollution levels and fuel usage.
• The new fleet of vehicles will allow us to introduce extra kerbside recycling options for the very first time – textiles, batteries, small electrical and electronic items and Tetrapak cartons. We will provide the appropriate containers for recycling these new items.
• Prior to the new vehicles being introduced later this year, we will review how waste rounds are organised to maximise the efficiency of collections across the District. This will result in a change to collection days for some residents and they will be informed well in advance of any change.
• Before any changes are introduced, we will send information to every household explaining how the new recycling arrangements will work.

NOTES: –

National Update: On 18 February 2019, the Government set out plans for a major overhaul of the country’s waste system, through the launch of a suite of consultations. Building on commitments made in the government’s Resources and Waste Strategy published in December 2018, the consultations provide detail on plans to (i) make packaging producers pay the full cost of dealing with their waste; (ii) introduce a consistent set of recyclable materials to be collected from all households and businesses; (iii) introduce consistent labelling on packaging so consumers know what they can recycle; and (iv) to bring in a Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) for cans and bottles, subject to consultation. The proposals include separate weekly food waste collections for every household in England and could include free fortnightly garden waste collections for households with gardens.

On the same day, government also launched its consultation on introducing a world-leading tax on plastic packaging which does not meet a minimum threshold of at least 30% recycled content, subject to consultation, from April 2022. This will counter the use of new, non-recycled plastic material (which has greater environmental impact) because it is often a cheaper option.

The Government is seeking views on its plans over a 12 week period. The changes will then make up a key part of the government’s upcoming Environment Bill, to be introduced early in the second session of Parliament. Changes are envisaged over the period 2023-2025, and financial implications – including impacts on local authorities – are covered.

Cotswold District Council’s waste and recycling collection service provider, Ubico Ltd, will be making normal collections up to and including Friday 21 December.  The following week, the crews will NOT be working on Monday 24, Tuesday 25 December and Wednesday 26 December.  They will also be on holiday on Tuesday 1 January 2019.  As a consequence, there will be changes in collection days until the normal schedule resumes on Monday 21 January 2019. 

The collection days will change from week commencing Monday 24 December and The collection schedule will return to normal on the week beginning Monday 21 January 2019. Please note crews will be working on four Saturdays – 29 December, 5 January , 12 January and 19 January – to catch up.

Northleach’s waste collection calendar, including holiday changes:

5A-Your-Waste-Collection-Calendar-2018-19

Please also note that Christmas trees can be taken to the following Garden Centres after Christmas for recycling up until 13 January 2019. (Once collected they are turned into peat-free compost):

• Dobbies Garden Centre, Cirencester, GL7 6EU
• Batsford Garden Centre, Batsford, GL56 9QB (will be taking trees from 6^th January)
• Wyevale Garden Centre, Lechlade, GL7 3DP

Commenting on the arrangements, Cllr Sue Coakley, CDC’s Cabinet Member for Environment, said:

“As always, we try to minimise disruption to the schedules over the Christmas and New Year holidays while providing the crews with a reasonable break.  Residents are now familiar with our revised schedules during the festive period and they have always responded favourably in the knowledge that everything gets back to normal within a few weeks.”

She continued: “We anticipate that households will accumulate larger amounts of waste during Christmas and New Year.  I would urge everyone to recycle as much as possible and to make the most of our kerbside recycling services, and recycling facilities across the district. Many large gifts use cardboard packaging and it is worth emphasising that the Ubico crews will only collect folded cardboard at the kerbside.  We also encourage everyone to recycle all the extra bottles that seem to accumulate over the festive season.

“For those who like to clear things away very quickly, please note that Household Recycling Centres will be open on most days during the holiday period.  However, please note that both Household Recycling Centres in Cotswold District now close for one day during the week  (Fosse Cross on Tuesdays and Pyke Quarry on Wednesdays). Both will be closed on Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day. The new winter opening hours are 10 am to 4 pm. For more details see www.recycleforgloucestershire.com.

“North Cotswold district residents should note that we have an agreement permitting the use of the Shipston on Stour recycling centre in Warwickshire. For more information and opening times for that site, please visit Shipston on Stour recycling centre.

“Additionally don’t forget that there are many excellent recipes for leftovers on the ‘Love Food Hate Waste’ website.  It’s also encouraging to hear about the growing popularity of recyclable wrapping paper rather than the metallic – and expensive – option which is not recyclable.

“While we hope to see a big upturn in recycling figures during this period, we realise that there is still going to be a build-up of non-recyclable waste at such a busy time.  For this reason, we will be allowing a ‘side waste amnesty’ for every household’s first full collection after Christmas Day; residents will be able to leave out additional amounts of non-recyclable waste in bin liners next to their grey wheeled bin/beige refuse bags. Please place all containers at the kerbside by 7 am on the revised day of collection so we can ensure that everything is picked up.”

For queries and further information about the waste and recycling services, please log on to www.cotswold.gov.uk or contact the CDC Waste Hotline on 01285 623123.

Via press release from Cotswold District Council

Please find below information from Cotswold District Council about recycling changes.

Please follow ‘five simple steps’ to pre-sort your kerbside recycling
Release date: 21st June 2018

Cotswold District Council is launching a ‘five simple steps’ campaign which asks residents to pre-sort their recyclables before they present them for collection at the kerbside.

At the moment, residents tend to use: a black box for all used paper, magazines, glass items, cans/tins; a white sack for mixed plastic bottles, pots, tubs & trays; and a blue sack for cardboard.

However, the Council is now encouraging people to keep paper and magazines separate from glass items – either within the confines of one black box (if they only have only room for one) or by acquiring a second black box at no cost. To make life easier, residents can now place tins/cans and aerosols into their white sacks with plastics as these can now be separated at the recycling plant.

The ‘five simple steps’ are as follows:

Step 1 – Use one black recycling box for paper and magazines. (If you only have room for one box – put the papers at one end and the glass, jars and bottles at the other).
Step 2 – If you can accommodate a second black recycling box use this for all glass bottles and jars – no broken glass please. (You can order a second box for free if you need one).
Step 3 – You can now use the white recycling sack for tins/cans, aerosols, as well as for  plastic bottles, food trays, yoghurt pots and other types of mixed rigid plastics.
Step 4 – Use the blue recycling sack for corrugated (brown coloured) cardboard or light (grey coloured) card.
Step 5 – Use the green caddy for food waste (or you can also pop your food waste into your garden waste if you subscribe to this service).

Cllr Sue Coakley, CDC Cabinet Member for the Environment, explains the benefits of additional pre-sorting: “We are delighted that so many people across the District are keen recyclers and we want to make sure that all the materials they present can be recycled. This now means that we need their help to do a little more pre-sorting before the items are collected.  Keeping the glass and paper separate means that both materials can be recycled more easily. The ‘five simple steps’ also help to speed up collections, cutting down on disruption to traffic flows caused by Ubico vehicles.”

The Council will be happy to supply a free extra black box on request. “I hope that being able to recycle tins and plastics together will make life easier for residents, but I would ask that they “wash and squash” the items first to make the most of the white sack’s capacity and also to keep it clean,” she added.

To request an extra black box or contact the CDC Waste Team email cdc@cotswold.gov.uk or phone 01285 623123.