Council considers binning waste skips at recycling centre
GENERAL rubbish and garden waste could be banned from Cheltenham’s tip. And some council-provided recycling banks in the town could go too.
The proposal has been drafted by borough council officers as part of a scheme to revamp the tip, formally called a household recycling centre, in Swindon Road.
The idea is due to go before the borough council’s cabinet meeting on June 11 and, if it is approved, it is likely to go out to public consultation between now and September.
In a report to the meeting, officers stressed that a previous suggestion to close the centre was not on the table. That follows the majority of people responding to a council consultation between December 19 2018 and January 6 2019 saying they wanted it to stay open.
But now the officers say changes need to be made at the Swindon Road site, for health and safety and other reasons, and there is an opportunity to save the council money.
Its annual budget for the recycling centre and providing recycling banks at 12 sites in Cheltenham is £341,000.
The report said that taking away the residual waste and garden waste skips from the recycling centre, and withdrawing council-provided banks at four of the 12 recycling areas in the town, would save the authority £33,000 per year.
The four sites earmarked, because they are used the least or have problems such as fly tipping, are Asda in
Hatherley Lane, Everest Road, Church Piece in Charlton Kings and the High Street car park, opposite Matalan.
There is also a suggestion from the officers that a re-use shop could be introduced at the Swindon Road site, raising about £15,000 a year for the council.
The council is looking into the possibility of increasing recycling levels by collecting material from people’s homes once a week rather than every two weeks.
Alongside that, the collection of general rubbish could happen every three weeks.
But the officers said the changes proposed for the recycling centre and recycling bank areas could also lead to people recycling more of their waste.
They said a complete review of the recycling centre was needed because it had been used more since the county council reduced the opening hours of its household recycling centres.
They said: “Removal of the garden waste and residual waste skips would allow the site to focus on recycling.
“45.3 per cent of respondents to the recent public consultation survey supported the removal of the residual waste skip and 31.7 per cent supported the removal of the garden waste skip.
“Therefore those members of the public currently using the site to dispose of residual waste and garden waste will be further consulted and supported to reduce waste and use the kerbside garden waste service.”
Residents can currently have their garden waste collected every fortnight, if they pay between £42 and £45 a year for a brown wheelie bin.
Planned improvements to the Swindon Road centre would include changing the site layout, providing better signage, enhancing internal safety barriers and fencing and replacing old skips with new and larger ones.
The aim would be to increase the range of recycling materials accepted at the site for both re-use and recycling.