Stratford District Council's crusade on waste

Stratford-on-Avon District Council is currently considering the renewal of several major contracts including refuse and recycling and is taking the opportunity to look at methods of service delivery that would be introduced at the time of contract renewal in 2008.  

Stratford District Councillors received a presentation by a representative from WRAP - the Government funded Waste and Recycling Action Project entitled 'A Waste of an Evening' on 25 July at the Council Offices.  The purpose of the presentation was to appraise Councillors of methods now being adopted elsewhere for the collection of household waste and recycling.  District Councillors have also received presentations from and visited high performing Councils.  

"The cost of refuse collection is going up and to make landfilling of waste a less attractive form of disposal the Government is increasing landfill taxes, which currently stands at £21 per tonne, and is the subject of a £3 per tonne annual escalator," says Cllr Les Topham, Leader of Stratford-on-Avon District Council.  

"This form of cost would eventually have to be met by our residents, they deserve value for money in the services that we provide for them, so as part of the review I will be looking at carrying out a feasibility study for us to collect our own waste similar to what happens in several other authorities.  Thus enabling any savings or profits to be for the benefit of the Council and residents of the District, other than a private contractor.  

"To help reduce landfill and costs we will have to increase our recycling.  From our consultation, many residents have indicated that they are keen to participate fully by recycling as much as possible and we wish to encourage more residents to take part not only to reduce the amount of waste going to landfill but also to meet the Councils' recycling targets.  Our aim is to eventually surpass our own target of 40%, which will enable the Council to make a step further to becoming an excellent Council, which as Leader is my ultimate aim.  

"This is obviously not a new proposal for Councils but it is a new idea for this District Council, although we did have our own workforce up until 1989.  I feel that if we look at providing the service in-house again we may be able to reduce costs and still maintain the Roll-Royce refuse collection and recycling service that our residents already have."