News

New bigger bin bags coming after changes given go-ahead

By Laura Herbert
December 06, 2012

Bigger blue bin bags will come into force next year as plans to improve the borough’s waste and recycling scheme were given the green light.

A number of improvements, including bigger bags, were approved following thousands of complaints when the initiative launched in April.

Members of Wokingham Borough Council’s executive unanimously approved nine recommendations following a public consultation and survey.

During the meeting on Thursday, November 29, Councillor Rob Stanton said: “Earlier this year we said we would review the waste system in light of difficulties and we have and it is clear to me we will need to continue that work.

“The bags are 12 per cent bigger than the old bags therefore there is a risk we will increase the waste volume.”

He added: “There were some difficulties, but through all this we have maintained weekly waste collections and increased recycling and a made a substantial saving.”

Cllr Ross replied: “I think the bigger bags do represent a risk but when I drive down streets I only see a very small proportion of bags full, so I don’t think that will represent a major problem.”

The bags will have longer, loop handles, increased height and a wider top opening to fit a 90-litre dustbin, and a voucher scheme will be introduced for homeowners who don’t receive their 80 bags in time.

The cost of changing the bags has also reduced from the original £250,000 to £220,000 as contractor Veolia has agreed to cover the cost of using a different supplier.

Liberal Democrat Cllr Lindsay Ferris said: “The new waste scheme was poorly thought out and badly implemented. A proper pilot scheme would have shown up the problems.”

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@Mistwalker - they were £4 for 10. They still are £4 for 10. Sounds like price fixing to me, which would be illegal of course

mavdo, Wokingham
10/12/2012 at 15:56

So now that we have bigger and stronger bags how much will a roll of 10 cost once people run out of bags? I can't see the council charging the same as the previous batches.

Also as the cost of the bags covered bag, admin, delivery and VAT in breakdown, now that residents can go to local councils to buy them are they cheaper as they shouldn't be paying for delivery? which would also reduce VAT - so total price should be almost half the price they are now?

Mistwalker
07/12/2012 at 16:35

I think the most sensible option would be for households to be issued bags in multiples of 52 (week per year). ie minimum of 104 - 2 per week. We have a baby and that fills up one whole bag with nappies! After that we use about another half a bag but because of smells etc we dont want to leave half a bag out for another whole week so we waste it by having it collected half full.

R Matthews
07/12/2012 at 12:49

@Smiffy - households of 5+ (not including dogs) get an extra 10 bags per year free.

I also recycle all I can. Well, by "recycle", I mean put my recycling (as per the council's description) in my black box and it gets thrown into landfill anyway.

mavdo, Wokingham
06/12/2012 at 13:49

PoneRana - I think the fact that the bags are getting bigger means that most people need more capacity. As the same allocations goes to households from 1 to 5 people, it is obvious that smaller households are unlikely to use all of the allocated bags. I applaud anyone who recycles, but the reality is that I recycle all I can as well, but with 2 kids, there comes quite a bit of waste!

I don't think there should be any formal scheme to return bags, but you could sell them to the highest bidder among your neighbours.

Smiffy, Reading
06/12/2012 at 13:33

It's called ebay

Paul Daniels' reattached finger.
06/12/2012 at 13:28

Can we have a scheme that allows us to sell back unused bags back to the council. I do not expect to use my second roll of bags this year. Surely there should be some reward for those of us who recycle to the extent that we create very little waste.

PoneRana, Wokingham
06/12/2012 at 12:54

I went to buy an extra roll of ten bags this week. The new bags are significantly stronger. It's only taken the Council nearly 9 months to listen to residents. The lady in front of me in the queue at the Council offices was perplexed when told she could not have "fifty new bags please" - she must be having a mighty clearout!!

The biggest improvement the council could make is to ensure the recycling goes into the correct part of the dustbin wagon.

Blackburn Rovers fan, Wokingham
06/12/2012 at 11:47

They unanimously approved 4 of the "changes", which were actually to keep it as they were.

As for the rest - The bigger bags won't really help at all because 80l of average rubbish already causes the bags to rip, and who *really* has 90l kitchen bins anyway? The voucher scheme is a cop-out to protect against them not being able to deliver the bags, or them being stolen, which they are doing nothing to stop at all. I like the new outlets selling bags, but I think it is a legal requirement anyway, and £4 for 10 bags would be challengable in court as they aren't allowed to charge more than cost for the bags, and 40p each is certainly not cost because you can buy at least 80 good quality bags for less than this price at a supermarket. The Customer Service Improvements is just a minor tweak to avoid a clog-up of the whole system as last year. The discount on composters is limited to 2,000 of them too. I've already got one, and it is very good, but will people spend £24 on them? Doubt it. And unless you can put them out of the way, they do tend to reek a bit as is natural.

mavdo, Wokingham
06/12/2012 at 11:42

@PD's finger - if you read the agenda item that I linked to, you will see that your question appears to be answered in Appendix 8.

It appears that the current arrangement is at cost, and the new arrangement will be in addition to that, but I'll leave you to read the document and draw your own conclusions. :)

Fed up, Lower Earley
06/12/2012 at 11:09

@Fed Up. Thanks. I would like to see more information about this discount. Looking at http://www.re3.getcomposting.com/ I can buy a composter for £16 plus £5.49 delivery. Will that now cost me £6 plus £5.49 delivery? The Devil's in the detail.

Paul Daniels' reattached finger.
06/12/2012 at 10:54

And let's not forget, people; all of this discussion, council meetings, disappointment/anger, (some may say) incompetence, changes to plans, discounts, delivery schedules, concessions...

...all to have our bins emptied. It's a wonder we haven't been living under a mountain of waste for the last hundred years, given how incomprehensibly complicated our local council seems to find the simple task of emptying bins.

Anyone else scared at what other decisions these people are making in our names, with our money?

Damiano_Tommassi, Wokingham
06/12/2012 at 10:48

I really don't know why they bother. The amount of time that has probably been spent working on the 9 recommendations probably massively outweighs the minor beenfit of bigger bags. I guess only time will tell if the bigger bags are actually stronger. If not, there won't be much benefit as people won't be able to put 90 litres of waste in them withouth them ripping.

Smiffy, Reading
06/12/2012 at 10:45

@ PD's finger - if you read the document I linked to you will see the costing of the composter discount is as follows:

Cost - £20K

Saving - £36K

Net Saving - £16K

(depending on take-up)

The discount is limited to 2,000 units.

Fed up, Lower Earley
06/12/2012 at 10:40

Nice to see that that I'll be getting 10 extra bags again next year without any questions because I included my dog as a person. What's the budget for the £10 discount on composters going to cost WBC taxpayers over a year? Is it a real discount, or one that already exists? As for Customer Service Improvements; wow great! Oh, except for the thought that if the scheme was easy to use in the first place, we wouldn't need Customer Service.