News

Have your say on bin bag service

By Laura Herbert
September 04, 2012

Households are being urged to have their say on how the borough’s controversial new waste and recycling service is working.

The scheme, which came into force in April, was initially criticised as many households were given the wrong size blue bin bags and many felt they were too flimsy.

Families were also upset about the 80 bag limit forced on them by the council.

The consultation, which launched on Tuesday, August 21, aims to find out whether users think the service is running as intended.

Councillor Angus Ross, executive member for environment at Wokingham Borough Council, said: “It would be fair to say that we had a few initial problems when we launched the new service.

“Four months in, I am pleased to report good progress is being made.

“The amount of household waste sent for disposal has reduced by 21 per cent compared with the same period last year and recycling has increased by 32 per cent over the same period and this is all down to the efforts of our residents.

“This means we are on track to meet our budget target of saving nearly a million pounds in the first year, but just as importantly, we are avoiding landfill penalties and contributing to the environment by sending more for recycling.”

Cllr Ross added: “Our citizen’s panel have received copies of the survey along with members of the public who raised concerns with us over the past four months, but we want to hear from as many local residents as possible.

“This new service affected everyone and we are keen to learn more about their experiences and how the scheme is working.”

The survey asks about the blue waste sacks, including suitability, kerbside recycling scheme, the recycling rewards scheme and the opt-in garden waste scheme.

Visit www.wokingham.gov.uk/council/consultations/wasteservices to complete the survey by Friday, September 14.

The results will be reported to the executive later this year and will help improve the service next year.

| Submit Comments | View Comments (34)

« Previous Story | Next Story »

Most recent user comments 15 of 34

1 | 2 | 3 | Next Page Show 15 | 25 | 50 per page

Yup Windsor and Maidenhead. I took the 77K as a best case, though of course there's evidence that this rises after time. Who knows what the real cost is? It could be lower, however I doubt that it's 'an exciting, new free council recycling programme' as per WBC's website.

Woky Local
05/09/2012 at 13:58

Those figures are from Windsor's scheme though, right - not WBC?

It's not a 77k annual cost though, is it - it says '77k rising to 144k'....

Damiano_Tommassi, Wokingham
05/09/2012 at 13:49

To me, a flat rate is a flat rate. The 77K looks like an annual cost. Remmeber though, these are unverified costs plucked from the interweb so they realy should only be used as an example that free doesn't always mean free. The cost could be hidden in the charge from Veolia to WBC. My point being that we don't have decent numbers to crunch so there's guesswork and speculation to be had.

Woky Local
05/09/2012 at 13:46

Thanks Woky Local. any idea if that flat rate of '77k rising to 144k' is per annum, per month, per week, per 100 tonnes... And that quote suggests two sets of fees - "One of the first costs is a subscription to RecycleBank" and "One of the main costs for the council in adopting the scheme would be in paying RecycleBank itself to administer the scheme". Ambiguous. Could our council not simply have said 'it costs X per year, plus Y per tonne, whereas it used to cost Z per year'?

Damiano_Tommassi, Wokingham
05/09/2012 at 12:54

Source: http://www.letsrecycle.com/news/special-reports/recyclebank-what-will-it-cost

'One of the first costs is a subscription to RecycleBank to operate the rewards system on their behalf, this can be done in either a ‘flat-rate' of an annual subscription or it can be calculated on landfill diversion.'

'One of the main costs for the council in adopting the scheme would be in paying RecycleBank itself to administer the scheme, with Windsor and Maidenhead currently paying a flat rate of £77,000 to RecycleBank for 2010/11, rising to £144,000 over the course of 2011/12. Halton also pays a flat rate for the scheme, although the exact costs have not been divulged.'

£77K = 1283 Green waste bins for a year.

Woky Local
05/09/2012 at 12:39

Woky Local - You are right, we should question them. As long as it is constructive and not just having a moan. I hope we all want the same thing....To make Woky the best place to live and receive value for money on our Council Tax payments.

Great quote to find from Gary Cowan. Certainly suggests that whoever won the contract (Veolia in this case) had to run an incentive scheme either by themselves or through a partnership similar to Maidenheads.

I P Freely
05/09/2012 at 10:44

IP.... Agree with you that WBC will take a beating one way or another however don't you think we should question them every now and again to keep them honest?

'Councillor Gary Cown, ........ added that the incentive scheme costs were built into the contract, revealing: “we put a condition in the tender saying that we expected them to deliver some form of incentive scheme.”'

Source: http://www.letsrecycle.com/news/latest-news/councils/recyclebank-scheme-to-be-introduced-in-wokingham

So, I believe there are costs..... not to mention the lost revenue from those traders opting into the scheme. How much has the Carnival Pool lost out by accepting 'Free Child' swimming vouchers at £3.10 a time?

Woky Local
05/09/2012 at 10:29

Woky Local - The official line is that wheelie bins are not suitable for the Borough and would mean that it would have to move to a fortnightly collection not just because they look unsightly. The council wanted it to remain weekly so opted for the blue bags which also give an extra 100 or so litres compared to wheelie bins (so long as you got the correct size that is!)

Recyclebank is an external company that started in America. It is seperate to the council and they are not paying them for it. Recyclebank get offers from companies for discounts to run on their site and also your personal details so I am sure most of their revenue would be ad based. The fact you also have to call them each week would bring in some as well I would guess

Mistwalker
05/09/2012 at 10:18

Ohj for goodness sake, what does it matter what we think WDC will do exactly what they want. I am still waiting for the 'right size of bags' to be delivered which I was promised back in April. Why would anyone want to throw away unused bags? Why not give them to their neighbours who are fining the restricted number of bags a problem - how thoughtless is that? I have spoken to my neighbour and told her to fill my bags if hers are full - easy. Just a little thought and communication between neighbours, that is all that is needed.

As for the garden waste, now that I do have a problem with. Why not continue the green bags? It was easy to use. I have seen so many people dumping their garden waste around the South Lake area and in High Wood it is a disgrace. I myself take it to the tip but I am lucky and have a car, what about the older people?

A little more thought I think WDC but I am speaking from Woodley and we seem to be the 'poor relation' to WDC - again. To be honest WDC just takes our money and does very little for Woodley.

Me-Here, Woodley
05/09/2012 at 10:16

I guess WBC are in a no win situation. Ask what people think of the scheme so far - they get battered. Don't ask what people think - They get battered.

When a change to a service affects all 60,000+ properties in the Borough it's not going to be popular with everyone. Particularly if you could get rid of as much waste pre April 2012 without a care to where it went and no need to recycle. Where as now it is being controlled you do have to care about how much rubbish you produce. Not many people are going to welcome this new scheme with open arms.

Woky Local - Sorry to disappoint but I beleive Recyclebank is free to WBC and its users. It's already come up before on here that Recyclebank make their money through advertising on the website and probably selling on data to marketing companies. I look forward to seeing the results of your FOI on here in 20 working days as I'm not sure if anyone has the 'offcial' answer. Maybe you could kill 2 birds with one stone and ask about the tonnage of waste received so far compared to last year. It might save Damiano Tommassi some time?

Phil - Can you take your petty and personal spat against Keith Baker somewhere else and bore off?

I P Freely
05/09/2012 at 10:14

Wheelie bins are not suitable for everyone. For example, we live on the side of a hill with no space at the front of the house to store them unless we permanently restrict the pavement with them. Can't imagine trying to manoevure a fully laden wheelie bin down steps at the side of the house on collection day. Bags are a lot easier in this respect.

Fed up, Lower Earley
05/09/2012 at 10:01

I wonder how much non-recycleable plastic is now going in the recycling boxes ? I bet it's gone up a lot since there became a limit on waste.

Would Leigh
05/09/2012 at 09:52

MoL... We can't have bins because they look untidy is the official line we're being fed, with the exception of the huge brown bins used for the green waste service..... Though you could argue that a ripped-open bag looks much worse. Woky Times could write a good piece based on a big ole Freedom Of Information request. I for one would like to know the cost of running the recyclebank scheme - and don't tell me it's free. Nothing is free.

Woky Local
05/09/2012 at 09:14

It appears that Cllr Keith Baker has lost his metaphoric tongue - the discussions on this website are all the poorer - at least he used to have a go at defending the indefensible.

Phil Challis, woodley
04/09/2012 at 20:22

Simple question....... If they want less waste why put rubbish in blue sacks which the refuse collectors place in a wheelie bin and empty that into the collection vehicle. Surely a wheelie bin supplied once to each household as in the Reading area and there would be no need for any further plastic sacks which do not rot down. Or is that just too easy !!!!

Man of leisure, Woodley
04/09/2012 at 16:57

1 | 2 | 3 | Next Page Show 15 | 25 | 50 per page

Book your advertisement yourself 24 hours a day. Save time book online. Book an Ad.

News

Have your say on bin bag service

Add Your Comment

Most recent user comments 15 of 34

Browse Sections

Interactive

Popular Sections

Get Shopping

getwokingham

Site navigation