Fears that bin changes could lead to more waste dumped
FOCUS ON RECYLING COULD BACKFIRE
MOVES to change the way some waste household rubbish is separated at home and collected could create more fly-tipping, a city councillor has warned.
The Government is looking to create a new standard system of domestic waste recycling for all councils to follow. Current proposals include having separate weekly kerbside food waste collections and ensuring all councils collect the same core set of used dry recyclable materials.
Ministers are also keen on a new payback deposit scheme for certain types of empty drinks containers which they believe could reduce littering.
If introduced, a likely impact would also be a reduction in the amount of such containers being put into household bins for dry recyclable items.
Weekly food waste collections would also require extra bins to be issued to households as such waste is currently allowed to be mixed with garden waste.
Although the proposals are still out for consultation, scrutiny councillors in Hull gave their views on some of the ideas this week.
Councillor Paul Drake-davis said he was concerned the Government was taking a “one size fits all approach” to the issue when different neighbourhoods within a city like Hull often had different recycling needs.
He said he was also worried about a focus on target-setting for recycling.
“If there is going to be sole focus on targets, it could be to the further detriment of the streetscene,” he said.
“People just want clean streets and their bins emptying but, in some places, that is not happening.”
Ministers are also reportedly keen on moving away from composting food waste to treatment through anaerobic digestion in a system where organic matter is broken down by microorganisms in the absence of oxygen.
Hull currently does not use anaerobic digestion to process its mixed garden and food waste, but Cllr Drakedavis suggested one alternative could be a system currently being used in a London insect farm using black soldier flies to feed on food waste before being fed to fish and livestock.
Councillor Dave Woods said a clear communication strategy is needed to tell people exactly what rubbish needs to go in each bin.
He said: “The ways things are going, there is going to be an increase in food waste, sloppy waste if you like, because more people are eating at home so we have got to make sure that if this does come in, it doesn’t get co-mingled with other waste before being collected because, if it is, there’s an extra cost down the line when it has to get separated.”
Councillor Rosie Nicola, the portfolio holder for waste management, said meeting the Government proposed target of a 65 per cent recycling rate for household waste by 2035 would be a challenge.
But she said: “Hopefully, Hull will be leading the way as we are now. It’s a subject that really matters to people so we have to get this right.”