Chesterfield Borough Council Green Bin Scheme
posted in Case Studies |A trial green bin scheme was introduced in September 2001 and included some 5,000 properties in the Hady, Spital, Hasland and Boythorpe areas. Each home was delivered a second wheeled bin, green in colour, which was for the collection of garden waste and cardboard. The bin was to be collected on alternate weeks, with a black bin for normal rubbish one week and the green bin, with compostable materials, the following week. The collections were suspended at the end of November and restarted in March 2002. A blue box for the kerbside collection of glass bottles and jars, tins and cans, textiles and newspapers, magazines and junk mail was also implemented in March 2002. In 2002 the two recycling schemes introduced in Autumn 2001 were expanded to include a further 7,000 properties in the Borough. From April to the end of November 2002, these schemes contributed a massive 2,598 tonnes to the total which Chesterfield Borough Council was due to recycle in 2002/3.
The garden waste and cardboard collected in the green bin was 1,544 tonnes and the material collected via the blue boxes was a further 1,054 tonnes.
The total material collected for recycling in 2002 was 4,058 tonnes from all sources, ie green bins, blue boxes, blue bags and bring sites. The extra tonnes would have a huge impact on 2002’s recycling rate of 9.56%.The success of the schemes is largely due to the positive way in which residents have responded to the need, to reduce the amount of rubbish Chesterfield Borough Council was disposing of to landfill. As the twin bin scheme started again at the end of February 2003, residents were asked to continue this positive support and to pick up where they left off the year prior.
The green bins are for garden waste and cardboard only; the blue boxes for all clean glass bottles and jars, clean tins and cans, newspapers and magazines and textiles. The next part of the programme, to increase the number of properties receiving kerbside collections of green waste and dry recyclables was implemented in June 2003. A further 6,000 properties received a blue box and 4,600 were issued with a second wheeled bin for the collection of green waste and cardboard.
The schemes already in place collected the following tonnages in 2002:-
1,510 tonnes of green waste for composting from 12,000 properties (6,000 of which were only included since September) and 1,563 tonnes of dry recyclables from 18,000 properties (6,000 of which were only included since September).
Why is the scheme still very important to Chesterfield Borough Council?
The schemes are necessary to ensure that the Council reaches Government recycling and composting targets of 16% by the end of 2003 and 25% by 2005; they also ensure that valuable resources, such as glass and paper, are not wasted but diverted for recycling.
43,000 tonnes of rubbish were produced by Chesterfield householders in 2003. Most of this was buried in landfills. Around 40% of this could have been recycled and around 30% of this could have been composted. However, due to the inclusion of residents on the twin bin scheme, approximately 3,000 tonnes of green waste and cardboard was diverted from landfill in 2003.
Chesterfield’s recycling rate for 2003/4 was 12% (5,322 tonnes) for dry recyclables and 7.34% (3,255 tonnes) for green waste. The green waste collection was from 12,000 properties only.
Government praise for Chesterfield Borough Council as recycling schemes expand.
Chesterfield Borough Council’s recycling achievements have been praised by the Government, even before a massive extension of a successful recycling scheme, which already covers more than half the Borough. Figures just released show that the whole country is on track to meet tough new recycling targets set by the Government, but Chesterfield has done better than most by not only meeting, but beating its target.
Minister of State for the Environment, Elliot Morley, has written to the Borough Council to say: “I am very grateful for the substantial commitment you have demonstrated to improving recycling and composting rates, and working for a more sustainable approach to waste management.”
Last year (2003), 19% of Chesterfield’s rubbish was recycled or composted; beating the Government set target of 16%. Over 3,250 tonnes of green waste and cardboard was diverted from landfill and sent for composting through the Council’s green bin scheme, while residents on the blue box scheme for the kerbside collection of glass, cans and paper, diverted a further 2,573 tonnes of rubbish from the Council’s landfill site.
There are also over 80 recycling sites throughout the Borough where people can take their rubbish, including textiles and plastic, to be recycled.
The Government accolade comes just as the Council is set to extend its blue box scheme. Already, 24,000 homes across the Borough have regular collections from their boxes and by the end of October an extra 12,500 homes, including Staveley, Duckmanton, Poolsbrook, Mastin Moor, Barrow Hill, Hollingwood, Brimington and Tapton will be added to the scheme. This will bring the number of homes on the blue box scheme to 36,500 - 80% of households in the Borough. Four thousand properties have recently been added to the green bin scheme for compostable materials, taking the total to 20,000 homes, almost half the Borough.
Councillor Keith Morgan, Lead Member for Sustainability and Environmental Services said: “I would like to thank all residents in the town for being so co-operative in the recycling programme, ensuring its success this year. This is not simply the success of the Council, this is a partnership effort and is an achievement for the town, as a whole, to be proud of. I know some residents find recycling difficult, but the Government is expecting us to hit 25% by the end of 2005 and we are on course to do that.”