The new system has now been up and running for a month and seems to have settled down following a few initial hiccups at the outset and is now working well, however if you are experiencing issues Residents with issues should initially contact: 0300 123 7 026 or email: enquiries@cheshirewestandchester.gov.uk Visit: www.cheshirewestandchester.gov.uk/recyclefirst
Some residents have asked for more details of what the new contract entails, just how it manages to save money and why do we have to sort things into different bins. Here are 10 Questions and Answers which we hope will help:
1. How much is the land fill tax today and what are the future planned increase?
The current cost of landfill is £64 per tonne this will increase by £8 per annum over the coming years.
2. How much tonnage will the new system produce compared to the old system and how much has the recycling percentage increased?
The new ‘Recycle First’ service will improve the overall tonnage of recycling collected by 12,000 tonnes in year one, up to a total of 20,000 tonnes in subsequent years. This represents is a total increase of 250,000 tonnes over the 14 year life of the contact.
By delivering these significant increases it will increase recycling levels within the Borough to over 63%.
3. How do you treat the little brown bin waste. Foot and mouth was the risk that stopped it being put in the old brown bin?
The collected food waste is recycled through a process called ‘Anaerobic Digestion’, a completely natural process. The collected food waste from across Cheshire West and Chester is bulked up before being transported to Stafford for processing. Once unloaded the mixture is heated to over 70°C for one hour. A fermentation process leads to the production of organic fertiliser and biogas. The biogas produced is then used to generate heat and electricity for the plant with any surplus electricity being sold. Nothing is wasted.
4. How is the general sorting done back at base. Is it very labour intensive and therefore costly. Do you have any novel machines to help the separating process?
The new ‘Recycle First’ service focuses on sorting material at the kerbside; this allows us to treat recyclable materials as a valuable resource. Collecting recycling using boxes rather than mixing it all together in a wheeled bin, enables the collection crews to further sort the recyclable materials into separate compartments on the on the purpose built recycling vehicles.
Whilst this kerbside collection method more labour intensive on the ground, it removes the need for complicated depot based sorting equipment, not only does this help to reduce cost but also ensures that everything we collect is recycled.
By keeping materials separate rather than compacting them together and separating them again mechanically contamination and damage are minimised. For example, delicate materials such as paper are often easily contaminated by residual waste left in cans or bottles. This is prevented when materials are collected separately at the kerbside.
5. We had a news paper contract with Bowwaters at Ellsmere Port. Is that contract still running?
A pan Cheshire contract for the collection of paper has been in place with Shotton Paper for a number of years. Under the new collection contact May Gurney have now taken ownership of all materials collected through both the kerbside and bring bank services. May Gurney are committed to complete transparency with regards to where the materials are being sent from processing, to facilitate this an interactive map is currently under development. This will form part of improvements being made to the Council website set to be rolled out over the coming months.
6. How do you now cope with envelopes and plastic windows?
Improvements have been made within the paper recycling process at both Shotton and other processing facilities. As a result of these change it is now possible to remove both the film and the glue from envelopes.
7. How are jam jar lids that have been replaces separated from the glass jar?
The lids which are collected attached to jars are removed at the processing plant through the use of magnetic sorting. These are then bulked together and send for smelting down along with items of the same metal type.
8. How do cost of the old and new system compare?
The new collection contract will provide saving of over £50m during the 14 year life of the contract. This is around twice the saving target which was set at the beginning of the procurement process. Further saving in disposal costs of around £26m could also be achieved due to the high recycling levels resulting in a significant reduction in waste being sent to landfill.
9. Has the value of the recycle sales increased?
The value of materials fluctuates depending on both material type and global demand. However, overall is it is fair to say that the value of materials has increased over recent years, this has been in part due to the increasing scarcity of certain materials and increase in oil prices.
10. Have recycling percentages increased in the town recycling centres?
The town centre recycling facilities which well used are currently small in number. This is an area which will be further focused upon once the ‘Recycle First’ service is fully implemented.
