AVDC working hard to deliver new recycling and waste scheme to communities
Archived press release
Date Published: 06/09/12
Refuse vehicle
Householders in Aylesbury Vale are being thanked for their patience and cooperation during the change-over to the new recycling and waste service.
Aylesbury Vale District Council launched its new service on 4 September, which sees all food waste and extra recycling materials now being diverted from landfill.
On the first day of collection more than 17 tonnes of food waste was collected from over 16,000 households.
Councillor Sir Beville Stanier, Cabinet Member for Environment and Health, said: “I would like to take this opportunity to thank Aylesbury Vale residents for their patience and cooperation over the past few weeks. We’re aware that the change in the arrangements hasn’t gone as smoothly for some as we would have wished.
“There are some households awaiting delivery of their new bins and we’re tackling this as a priority. The contractor is sending out ‘mop up’ teams to customers that have been missed off early rounds, and we also have two of our own teams out and about to properties that have been missed.
“We’ve received a large number of telephone calls, emails and letters about the new service over the past few weeks. As a result there have been some delays in responding. I appreciate that residents are keen to understand the new service and to make appropriate arrangements to enable the new service to work effectively.
“If you have concerns and have not yet had a response, I would ask that you visit our website – www.aylesburyvaledc.gov.uk/newbins for the latest information. It also sets out a number of key questions together with answers and sources of further information. We will be answering all of your letters and emails in due course.
“We appreciate your patience whilst the new service gets underway. Many of our residents are excellent at recycling and we have achieved much in recent years. However, the new scheme will allow us to achieve even more and save us half a million pounds a year.”
The new scheme aims to help AVDC reach the government's recycling rates of 50 per cent by 2015 and 60 per cent by 2020.
To encourage the public to recycle as much as possible, the new service allows extra materials to be recycled and will now allow residents to recycle all food waste.
The addition of food waste to the service is vital as the government has set a limit which determines how much biodegradable can be waste to landfill. Councils that exceed this must pay to send more to landfill.
All food waste collected in the new service will go to an anaerobic digestion plant, where methane gas will generate electricity.
The majority of households in the Vale have received a large green bin with a blue lid, for recycling. The bin contains a RFID (radio frequency identification) tag, fitted at the point of manufacture. These are not bugging or tracking devices, but simply an electronic reference number identifying each bin.
Explaining the tagging of recycling bins, Councillor Stanier said: “Incorporating the RFID tags now was intended to give us a degree of flexibility, in order that we could consider introducing a new recycling reward initiative in the future. For example, residents living in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead are trialling an incentive scheme, with RFID tags used to help monitor the amount of recycling residents put out for collection. The keenest recycling households are rewarded with vouchers for high-street retailers, such as M&S.
“If we decided to offer such a scheme and our recycling bins did not contain RFID tags, then fitting the tags retroactively would be logistically challenging and would also cost much more financially. Purchasing them fitted at the point of manufacture, therefore, is more cost effective in the long run.
“All the tags can do is provide a reference number for each bin. The purpose of this is to provide each of our bins with a unique identity, a bit like a bar code, sticker or painting a reference number onto each bin. If the tags were ever used (and currently they are not) the tag itself would not be able to monitor the type or weight of recycling being collected. All it would do is allow a vehicle fitted with a receiver device to identify which bin is being emptied into the vehicle at that time.”
For more information about the new collection service, visit www.aylesburyvaledc.gov.uk/newbins or call the refuse hotline on 01296 585510.