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Waste harmony plans a bit of a curate's egg.
(June 22, 2010)PLANS to harminise waste collection have been announced by Wiltshire Council and broadly speaking they involve switching two areas over to fortnightly collection and collecting cardboard and plastic kerbside.
But there's a snag - more of that later.Residents of Salisbury will lose their weekly collection and already have plastic and card collection but will get a 'free' green waste service as a sort of bribe.
In Warminster it is all gain as we get a cardboard and plastic kerbside collection.
But why provide a free collection of garden or green waste - other areas such as our next door authority of Test Valley charge those who opt into this system?
''Collecting garden waste ins't really greenat all as it is expensive and is regressive as rich people with big gardens benefit while all have to pay,'' said Steve Dancey.
''In Test Valley they levy an annual charge of 21 pound a year and that still doesn't cover the cost so you see how important it is. Around a quarter of households pay the charge.
''No, the reason the council wants this is because collecting green waste counts towards recycling target credits while composting, which is the only really green option, doesn't.''
If the council says it needs to make cuts then give everyone who has green waste a composter, teach them how to use it properly as many don't know and charge for the green waste service. If the cuts in funding are of the magnitude that we think then this will come in before too long.
The council is consulting at the moment their plans are worth supporting as collection of plastic and cardboard will be of great benefit.