UAIENIAISRffiIH.ilGtllttEt( April 9 1999 l5

COUNCIL PROFILE I

Building on solid foundationsBath and North East Somerset Council has earned a reputation for itspioneering work in recycling. Here, the council's recycling officerDayidMdnsell outlines how it gearing up for the new millenium

ath & North EastSomerset Council's newWaste Strategy and

Recycling Plan receivedCovernment approval i nFebruary 1999.

The council's combined strat-egr gives first pnonty to pro-moting waste reduction, reuseand recycling. as part ol inte-grated approach to waste man-agement.

The strategy aims to build onB&NES's long-standrng nationalreputation for recycling. This hasbeen eamed in large part fromthe success o[ an award-wrnninggreen box service, which is oper-ated by Bath & North EastSomerset Community Recycling- a not-for-profit company set-upby Avon Friends of the Earth towork in partnership with thecouncrl.

The green box collectiors weredeveloped following a senes oftrials in Bath in I993. These tesred the effect ofdi[erent collectionfrequencies, the kerbside collec-tion of glass with other materialsand the prousion o[ collectioncontainers. Multi-matenal week-Iy collections wrth a green boxproved the most successfuloption, in terms ofpublic supportand operational factors.

A key leature ol the system isthat source-separated materialsfrom the green box are sorted bycollectors into separate cages onpurpose-built lorries. The cagesare unloaded using a forklift truckat the project's two depots. Paperand different colours of glass areripped straight into bulk contaLn-ers for haulage to reprocessors.Cans and plastic bottles areripped into the infeed of a sortingand baling line, This approach tobox collections resuls in highyields with exceptionally lowcontamination levels and it has

TS

A range olrecyclables,

trom glassbottles and jars,to engine oil are

recoveredthrough the

kerbside seruicebeen taken up in many otherareas in the UK.

Following local govemmentreorganisation in 1996, the newunitary authority of Bath &North East Somerset was set-upto serve a population of 167,000in the compact city of Bath andthe surroundrng towns and ruralvi11ages. The County of Avon,Crty of Bath and Wansdyke dis-trict councils formerly servedthis area.

Kerbside collections are pro-vided throughout the new districteither through monthly collec-tions or the weeklygreenbox ser-vice, with the latter cur-rentlycovering 45,000 households.

Materials accepted on both kerb-side services are paper, glass bot-tles and;ars, drink and food cans,foi1, textiles and shoes, car bat-teries, engine oil and filters.

Plastic bottles are acceptedthrough green box collections onfive trial rounds, covenng 3,500households, and there is a cen-tral collection point at the Bathcivic amenity site.

Over 4,000 households livrngin large blocks of flats are servedby mini-recycling centres forpaper, glass and cans, whichcon-sist of wheeled birs secured tospecial frames.

Capital fundrng for the greenbox coilections. plastics sorting

16 April9 1999ilATERIALS

m1[ultGIIEE(I COUNGIL PROFILE

and mini-recycling centres wasmostly secured from theSupplementary Credit Approvalprogramme for recycling award-ed by the former Department ofthe Envnonmentup to 1996/97 .

Revenue funding is provided bythe council.

Other recycling services pro-vided by the council include:O A range ofrecycling facilities atthe district's three civic amenitysites, which are to be renamed asHousehoid Waste and RecyclingCentres.O Home compost bin specialoffers, with over 7,500 suppliedsince 1993.OAnetwork of collection banksfor paper, glass and cans at a sitedensity of about one for every3,500 households - use of thesebanks has declined considerablyas the green box seMce hasexpanded.OFree coilections for domesticfridges and freezers, which arereused or degassed and recycled.OA Community Re-Paintscheme that distributes left-overdomestic paint for reuse to com-munity groups.ORecycling collections forschools, offices, public houses,restaurants and hotels, mainlyfor office paper, drinks cans andglass.

The council has also placed ahigh priority on customer care

and providrng clear and well pre-sented inforrnation to residents.Recycling guides and home com-posting information shee6 havebeen widely distributed andGreen Box newsletters are nor-maily delivered every year.Composting classes have beenorganised at allotment sites andexhibiLions d splayed at libraries,Bath Environment Centre andBath Flower Show. A mobilecomposting display has alsotoured towns and vi1lages.

In addition to these servicesthe council has also run a num-ber of promotional initiativesincluding:O Cards left in geen boxes withsimple reminders, such as tosquash plastic bottles or to keepdifferent materials separate.OA Schools Waste Challengewith prizes donated by Marks &Spencer.OA special pack delivered topublic houses, restaurants andhotels to encourage glass recy-cling

ln 1997 / 9 B, ahousehold wasterecycling rate of 18o/o, rncludinghome composting, was achievedin B&NES. In I99B/99, this rsprojected to rise to 20olo.

As part of the development ofits waste management stralegy,the council adopted minimumrecycling targets of 30olo forachievement in 2000/01 and

35o/o trt 2005. A policy has alsobeen adopted to leave flexibilityin long term waste contracts toallow a reduction and recyclingrate of up to 50olo to be achieved.

The council's rerycling targetswere set on the basis ofan analy-sis of the composition of house-hold waste in B6gNES and thepredicted effect of service devel-opments that could be imple-mented. These include:O Extending the weekly greenbox servrce to the remainingI8,000 households in theDistrict still covered by monthlycollections.OAccepting plastic bottles in al1areas il industry flunding fromthe packaging obligation can besecured.OA high-profile promotioncampaign to encourage wastereduction, reuse and recycling.O Improvements to the layoutand signage at civrc amenity sitesto encourage maximum use ofrecycling facilities and to ailowmore materials to be separatedfor recycling.

An A.4 consultation documenton the Council's recycling pro-posals and waste managementoptions - Where Next For OurWaste? - was published in 1 997.A 4-page summary wrth a feed-back form was distributed withthe council newspaper to allhouseholds and businesses inthe District.

More than 340 responses werereceived with more than halfbelieving that the council's recy-cling targets were "about right",although a third thought the tar-gets were too low. Near to B0o/oof respondents identified recy-cling as their preferred wastemanagement option, while 70oloalso indicated their preferencefor waste reduct ion, compostingand energy recovery, and 15oloraised concems about pollutionfrom energy from waste plants.

As a result of the consultation,the council confirmed thatwasteminimisation and recycling werethe key focus of lts waste strate-gy. Further work was undertak-en to consider the best optionsfor waste that would not be col-

One ol theparpose-builtlorries ased onthe collectionrounds

MATERIALS

Rr8YCilltGII|EH( April 9 1999 17

II'ASIT IIAI{AGTTITT{I IN BAIH A ilORTH TASIsomrRstr -ww/q8Rerydinghrbside (olledions(olleoion BonksHome (omposling *(AS** (omposling

05** RetydingIotd

Tonnor6,$4',1.

l,l/43,6001,$961,729

rt04r

DisposolRefuse fulledion 38,547fivtu Amenity Siles 1.6,616fiha 0eonsing Wuste 2,791Totol 67,954* Eslimde from queslionnoire surveys-' fivk Amenily Siles

AVTRAGT OUAT{IIilIS COTTE$TD ON GRTT}IBOX ROUNDS III THT FIVE PTASTIC BOITI.ETRIAT ARTAS

B&t{tS Kg/1,000 kh a6by o/oby

1998 per we* * weig&l volumePoper 2,028 61.5% 4l%6loss 1,04'1 31.50/0 26Yo(om 117 3.5% 9Yo

PlosirBoflles I0l 3% 24%0ther Molerioh 22 A.5%Tolol 3,309 100% I00%*

Kilogroms per 1,000 households per week

lected for recyclingSubsequently, srx scenanos to

manage non-recycled waste havebeen identilied for active consid-clat ion: Corrt inued transportingof waste to distant landflll,preferably by rail; local landfi11 ifa site becomes available. estab-lishing a local recovery plant fornon-recycled waste fromB&NES alone, achier'rng accessto a regronal recovery facility,wrth or wrthout IFI funding:and, developing a regional recov-ery facillty wrthrn B&NES.

\\ ork on implcrnentingapproved recycling senrce der..elopments is already underway.

In May this year, the green boxsen ice r,r,rll be ertended to a fur-ther 10,000 households. Asmaller collection vehicle with asingle operator will be used onnew green box rounds in mraltowns ancl i,'illages. This shouldprove more ellicient in travellingthe longer clistances in countryareas than the larger lornes wrthteams ol two dnver/collectorsused in urban areas.

At the other extreme ol build-ing density, new green bag col-lections arc to be tested in the\cn1rc oI Bilh for resrdcrrts iir,rngin busy shopping and commercial streets. The aim is to providea con\cni( nl rr'c)Lling scr\ ICe inareas where practrcal dillicultiespre\.ent the eflective pro\.ision of

Trad iti ona I tra nsp ort m eth odsare used to rec|ver material

lrom homes in rural areas

COUNCIL PROFILE Igreen boxes or mini-recyclingcentres. Bags are easier to collectbut will involve a greater effort tosort different matenals.

Plans to establish a partner-ship u,rth one of the new pack-aging regulations complianceschemes are well-advanced,which should result in long-terrrilundrng being provicled to sup-port fufther developments.

Plans are also in place toleunch a m.'rjor ncw m.rrketingcampaign in May, entitledReThink Rubbish A local coirr-munlcatiolrs agency has beenappointed and artwork agreedIbr strong visual branding. Thecampaign wr11 involve a high-profile media launcl-r, andbrochurr, dclivered t., rll resi-dents thrt prorrdc in[onnrtionon why and how they should rethink their rubbish.

Meanwl-rile a local contractorhas reccnLly securcJ planningpermrssion lbr a new centralcompostlng facility, li,hichshould pror'rde a secure outlet toincrease the quantity o[ greenr.vas[e collected at householdr.r.aste and recycling centres.

With the continued support ofits residents, effective partner-ships and a clear strategl', B&NESCouncil is confident that recy-cling wrll continlle to make agrowing and r'rtal contnbution toits waste management strategy.