Recycling Changes – Have Your Say!

A message from Cornwall Council:

Cornwall Council’s Cabinet Members met in November to discuss recommendations on the new waste collection contract, which will commence in April 2020.

In order to make a recommendation, an Inquiry Panel considered the costs, performance, risks and benefits of a range of options and recommended that we adopt a model which is used extensively in Welsh and English authorities which should help us increase recycling rates in Cornwall from 36%.

The recommendation proposed a weekly collection of recycling and food waste and a fortnightly collection of waste that cannot be recycled. Evidence shows that by making recycling collections more frequent, increasing the range of materials that are recycled and introducing food waste collections on a weekly basis, we can deliver our recycling targets.

Analysis of black bin bags shows that most people’s waste is currently comprised of 22% of materials that can be recycled, e.g. paper/cans/glass etc.; 35% is food waste; and 43% is other residual waste. If in future we collect food waste each week, and recycling collection also moves to weekly collections, this would make collections of recyclable material easier and mean we would change the frequency of collections of waste which cannot be recycled to a fortnightly basis. This means food waste will be collected at the same frequency as it is now (weekly), with the added benefit that it would be recycled (by anaerobic digestion), which is currently not the case.

Before the Cabinet meets in February, to make a final decision on the new contract, we have started talking to our Town and Parish Council partners and will be hosting a Cornwall Council all-Member briefing in January.

We also want to give residents the opportunity to help inform and shape Cornwall’s future kerbside recycling and waste collection. What people tell us will help us to understand the impact on residents of proposed changes to the waste and recycling contract in 2020. To obtain this information we will be undertaking a survey and focus groups.

We would appreciate your help in sharing the survey with the people you work with and represent, as well as your own family and friends. You can find the survey here. It will close on 3rd January 2018.

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One Comment

  1. Dear CFWI,
    On the Cornwall Council website the timetable for this recycling survey is given as
    1. Oct 31 st deadline for submitting survey.
    2 Jan 2018 consideration of survey
    3 Feb 2018 vote on new Biffa contract

    I think it is probably too late based on the above timetable to fill out survey.
    I personally think Cornwall Councils new recycling collection plans are excellent and fit in with my household waste needs.

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