Kerbside recycling scheme to be axed

From the archive, first published Tuesday 7th Feb 2006.

WYRE Forest's kerbside recycling box scheme is to be scrapped and homeowners given another wheelie bin, leading to accusations that the controversial scheme was a "criminal waste of money".

The green and black boxes will be replaced by a single bin for all recyclable materials from as early as 2007.

The news means homes will need two wheelie bins - one for recyclable materials and one for everyday waste. They will be picked up on alternate weeks, bringing to an end the weekly collection of recyclable materials.

Vehicles worth £1 million and made especially to take away waste from the two boxes will be dumped when the multi-million pound scheme is wound up by Wyre Forest District Council.

All materials will then go to a hi-tech waste plant in Hartlebury, set to open between 2007 and 2009.

The aim is for the whole of Worcestershire to use the same method and for the bulk of the county's waste to be processed at new generation plants to meet future stringent limits on the amount of waste that can be dumped in landfill sites and to avoid Government-imposed fines.

Fran Oborski, a Liberal district councillor and outspoken critic of the two-year-old scheme, said it was "a real shame that we have had to waste this money on this nonsense and we are now going to get rid of it".

She went on: "When you think of the cost of vehicles, they really were horrendously expensive. It really is a criminal waste of money to have spent this much on a scheme that is only going to last four years."

The box scheme was backed by the then Health Concern administration at the district council and began in 2003. An initial Government grant of £800,000 plus smaller follow-up grants paid for the scheme.

County councillor Howard Martin, who was leader of the ruling Health Concern party which brought in the kerbside recycling box scheme, said he feared people would stop recycling under the new system.

"It is a fact that the most successful recycling schemes around the country use boxes and the latest figures show that at 25 per cent we have the best recycling scheme in the county. The original target was for the district to have 18 per cent recyclables by now as only 81 per cent of the district is involved," he said.

Mr Martin warned that householders could face increased council tax bills to pay for the introduction of the new system.

He added that Health Concern had planned to bring in a composting scheme, which he thought would be unlikely under the new system.

The Conservatives became a minority administration after the June elections last year.

Cabinet member for commercial services, Marcus Hart, said the vehicles would have reached the end of their life for when the changeover takes place.

He said: "The new system will be more convenient for the householder because they can put everything in one bin, knowing everything can be recycled just the same, instead of having to put it all into separate boxes."

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