More kerbside recycling to come

Cheltenham residents will benefit from improved kerbside recycling opportunities as the Borough Council looks to reduce the amount of waste sent to landfill. Two years ago Conservatives blocked Liberal Democrat proposals to introduce collection of kitchen waste.

This has cost council tax payers £500,000 in extra landfill tax as well as the extra damage to the environment caused by gases created when this waste is buried in the ground. The new proposals include:

* The introduction of a free weekly collection of kitchen waste from April 2011
* Another scheme to encourage home composting through subsidised composters following the successful sale of home composters in April this year
* The doorstep collections of plastic bottles has started being rolled out across the town and is due to be completed by the end of 2010
* The existing green box scheme for paper, cardboard, cans and glass will continue to be collected every two weeks

* From 2011 the current garden waste bag scheme will be replaced by an opt-in garden waste bin scheme with a cost of £3 per month
* The council is also continuing work to improve recycling services to flats and other areas where communal recycling is the only realistic option.

There is a lot of support in Cheltenham for improved recycling services. The proposals are similar to schemes already run successfully by neighbouring Cotswold and Tewkesbury councils. One benefit of the changes will be the move from the current bags used for collecting garden waste (which are sometimes difficult to use and easy to lose when they blow away down the street) to the provision of a wheelie bin.

With an increase in the amount of recyclables collected and food waste being collected every week there will be less of what is called the ‘residual waste’ left. This means that we can reduce the collection of residual waste to once every two weeks. However, each area will be looked at to see whether more frequent collection is needed to overcome local problems with storing waste between collections.

The ever increasing cost of landfill tax means that doing nothing is not an option. Liberal Democrats believe that this package is the fairest for everyone and reduces the impact on the environment while keeping costs down.