District council signs up to county-wide waste and recycling initiative

RESIDENTS across West Dorset are set to benefit from a new county-wide waste and recycling service.

District councillors signed up to the scheme yesterday after hearing it could save them �304,977 a year and increase the recycling rate from 35 per cent to 65 per cent.

The new service will be run by the Dorset Waste Partnership, and will provide residents with a weekly food waste collection, a fortnightly recycling collection of glass, card, paper, plastics, batteries, tins and cans, and a fortnightly collection of left-over non-recyclable waste to go to landfill.

Residents will also be offered a fortnightly charged garden waste collection service.

Residents will also be given wheelie bins, a seven-litre food waste kitchen caddy, a lockable food waste container which can be kept outside and collected week), a 140-litre wheeled bin for non-recyclable landfill rubbish (collected fortnightly), a 240-litre wheeled bin for recycling (collected fortnightly) and a 55-litre recycling box for glass (collected fortnightly).

In certain circumstances communal bins may be provided for residents living in flats and special arrangements may be made for residents who cannot store wheelie bins.

The move to change waste and recycling services in 2014 was backed at a meeting of the full district council yesterday (Thursday). Members also agreed that an “extensive communication and engagement exercise with residents’ must be carried out”.

Leader Robert Gould said: “I am glad we have taken a significant step towards introducing a Dorset-wide waste and recycling service which will save money and help people recycle more rubbish.

“It is an important decision because the economic situation has changed. The district council’s funding from central government has been cut by 25 per cent – a huge reduction. We must save money to protect frontline services and keep our council tax one of the lowest in the country.

“The environmental benefits will be great. We will be able to offer residents a new weekly food recycling service and a plastic recycling service, which lots of people have asked for. There will also be a new optional, chargeable, service available to collect garden waste, further reducing the amount sent to landfill.”