Fortnightly Bin Collections Announced For Next April
Revamp announced by Hounslow Council includes charges for garden waste
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Hounslow Council has today (Sept 23) announced its plans to revamp the refuse collection service. As reported by chiswickw4.com last week, a fortnightly collection will be introduced for wheelie bins and a charge for garden waste of approximately £50 a year.
From April households will also have to pay for their garden waste to be collected, bringing the borough in line with most other neighbouring boroughs.
Residents who sign up to the service between January and April will receive a free home composter, worth around £20. The service will cost households £50 per year – or £25 for those in receipt of council tax support.
The Council said in a statement today: "Hounslow Council has set out ambitious plans to make the borough one of the greenest in west London by helping residents to change the way they manage their waste.
"In 2016 household rubbish collections will be made fortnightly, with recycling and food waste collected weekly. Garden waste collections will also be charged, in line with almost all other neighbouring boroughs.
Cllr Steve Curran rolls out the bins in the borough
"The changes to rubbish collections are part of a drive to cut the amount of waste being sent to landfill and help residents to recycle at least half of their rubbish by 2020. After this date, the Mayor of London will impose hefty fines on local authorities that fail to meet this target.
"Currently residents only recycle 35 per cent of their rubbish – one of the lowest rates in London.
"Sending household waste to landfill is not only hazardous to the environment but expensive too, costing around £120 per tonne to process compared with just £20 a tonne for recycling.
"In a report to Hounslow Council’s Cabinet, the authority said the money could instead be spent on other vital services, such as education and care for the elderly.
"If all households recycled at least 50 per cent of their rubbish over the next four years 15,000 tonnes of waste would be recycled per year and not landfilled, saving up to £1.35million.
"Moving from weekly to fortnightly collections for non-recyclable waste will also save money by cutting the number of refuse trucks required and the number of journeys collection crews need to make.
The council is running an intensive information campaign over the coming months telling people about new wheelie bins, collection arrangements and how to recycle. There will also be a drive to increase food waste recycling and encourage residents to sign up for their green garden waste collection service.
From April households will also have to pay for their garden waste to be collected, bringing the borough in line with most other neighbouring boroughs.
Residents who sign up to the service between January and April will receive a free home composter, worth around £20. The service will cost households £50 per year – less than £1 per week – or £25 for those in receipt of council tax support.
Councillor Amrit Mann, Deputy Leader of Hounslow Council, said: “Cutting the amount of rubbish we send to landfill is a key priority and we have designed a collection service that will make recycling much easier. We have looked at what neighbouring west London boroughs are doing to learn how best to run our service.
“The new programme will dramatically cut the number of trucks that need to be sent out which has the added bonus of reducing pollution and congestion on our roads.
”The savings we make from this and increased recycling will go a long way towards safeguarding money for education and other vital services.”
The service changes follow the rollout of thousands of wheelie bins to homes across the borough, which have contributed to tidier residential streets. As there is a limit to the number of black bags you can place into the wheelie bins, residents have been forced to rethink what they do with their waste and recycle more.
A further 39,000 households will receive a wheelie bin later between November 2015 and February 2016.
Every property which has space at the front of the house will be sent a letter giving details about the new wheelie bins and collection dates. A guide to recycling is also being produced, backed up by mobile exhibitions and visits to schools.
Houses without sufficient space at the front of the property will also be written to explaining why they have not been allocated a wheelie bin. They will be allowed to appeal the decision if they believe it to be incorrect.
Anyone who thinks they might have difficulty using a wheelie should contact the council for an assisted collection.
Residents wanting further information about wheelie bins, assisted collections and recycling generally can email wheeliebin@hounslow.gov.uk or call a special hotline number: 020 8583 2189.
Hounslow Council plans to take the refuse service back under local authority control from SITA when its contract ends next year.
The introduction of a 'co-mingled' recycling service is another proposal being considered. This would mean a 240 litre wheeled bin would be collected on alternate weeks- all recycling waste would be put into the bin and collected every two weeks instead of the current system which is a weekly kerb side collection where the refuse is sorted out by the operators and put into the lorry.
If this were to happen, the recycling waste would have to sorted on a designated site. The closure of Space Waye for up to three months in 2016 (June to October) is mooted, so that an area could be developed where the collected recycling waste could be transferred for sorting. A public high level area is also to be installed - the cost is estimated at £1.68m.
The Council also needs a permanent collection fleet for when the service is returned to the local authority and a temporary collection fleet would be needed for SITA to operate the new wheeled bin service until the delivery of that new fleet.
A new ICT system would also be needed to manage the new arrangements.
September 23, 2015