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Changes to Lewisham refuse collection services
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samuelsen


Posts: 449
Joined: Feb 2016
Post: #1
20-04-2016 06:40 PM

Answers received from the questions asked of the Council.

If the Council reduce collections to every fortnight, the grey bin will be over flowing and will not hold two weeks of rubbish, what are we supposed to do?
The Council has undertaken waste compositional analysis and if everyone recycles all they can correctly, participates in the new food and garden waste services, then the black bin for the remainder of the waste should be sufficient for a collection every two weeks.

How do the Council intend to deal with the increased vermin issues these changes will result in?
It isn’t anticipated that there will be an increased vermin issue and the element that may cause vermin issues i.e. food waste, will still be collected weekly. The food waste will be contained in lockable containers so that if they do get knocked over, the food won’t escape as long as the bin has been stored in the locked position.


What saving is the Council expecting to make, as they will have twice as much rubbish to collect every fortnight?
The financial model for all waste and recycling services have been taken as a whole. The cost of providing the current service is between £7.8m and £8.2m, depending on the recycling market, which is volatile and based on global secondary commodities markets. Using the same methodology as the current service the new services are estimated to cost between £7.1 and £8.2m. Therefore the new services can still be met from existing budgets.

Was it not short sighted to remove and issue the smaller rubbish bins?
The Council has undertaken waste compositional analysis and if everyone recycles all they can correctly, participates in the new food and garden waste services, then the black bin for the remainder of the waste should be sufficient for a collection every two weeks.

What are the bin men going to do on the week they do not do the collection? Are they going part time?
The collection operatives will have a range of collections to make including collecting the refuse and recycling, as well as collecting waste from the new food and garden waste services. As such the operatives won’t be working part time.

Where are we supposed to keep the food waste bin?
The food waste bin is small (27 litres compared to the 240 litre or 180 litre bins that people currently have) and won’t take up much additional space. Some people may choose to store the food bin in their house and put it out on collection day, whilst others may store it in their front or back gardens.


What are the cost savings for the food waste?
The financial model for all waste and recycling services have been taken as a whole. The cost of providing the current service is between £7.8m and £8.2m, depending on the recycling market, which is volatile and based on global secondary commodities markets. Using the same methodology as the current service the new services are estimated to cost between £7.1 and £8.2m. Therefore the new services can still be met from existing budgets.

What will be the frequency of the food waste collection?
The frequency of the food waste collection will be weekly.

Will the food waste result in an additional collection every week/every other week?
The food waste will be an additional collection every week.


Will the third collection result in additional vehicles solely for the food collection waste?
A couple of options are currently being considered for the disposal of the food waste and this will dictate the type of vehicle that will be used for the collection.


What are the Council going to do if I do not wish to participate in the food waste collection?
The Council has no plans to make this compulsory.

Have the Council not heard of the saying "if it ain't broke don't fix it"?
The Council’s recycling rate is the lowest in the country.
The Council needs to increase the amount that it recycles to help contribute to the Government’s target of 50% recycling by 2020. If the Council doesn’t help contribute to this target it could face fines from Central Government.


If the Council are going to reduce the overall waste collection service, how much are the council going to reduce the council tax as they are changing the service?
The Council has amended the way in which waste and recycling will be collected to meet objectives in a number of key areas, including improving environmental performance and being more efficient in what it does with the budget available. Two additional services are being implemented, food and garden waste, and as such there will be no reduction in Council Tax.

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RE: Changes to Lewisham refuse collection services - samuelsen - 20-04-2016 06:40 PM

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