Rugby Borough Council has announced plans to close all mini-recycling centres, (‘bring’ sites), by the end of September.

According to the council’s ‘Scrutiny Review of Recycling Centres’ report, released in July, bring sites have reduced in popularity since the introduction of the borough’s three-bin kerbside recycling service four years ago. Additional to a black bin for non-recyclables, the council’s waste collection service offers a blue-lid bin for co-mingled dry recyclables (paper, glass, plastic, cartons, and cans), and a green bin for garden and food waste, which are collected on an alternate weekly basis to the residual waste.

It is this service that the council says accounts for the fall in dry recyclables collected from bring sites – in 1998 the borough saw 1,400 tonnes of dry reccylables collected from bring sites (97 per cent of the borough’s recycling), but by 2012 this had fallen to just 350 tonnes (3.5 per cent).

Costs can ‘no longer be justified’

The report highlights that due to the drop in popularity, the cost of collecting a tonne of recyclable materials from bring sites has risen to £171, compared with £76 per tonne for the kerbside service.

The review also highlighted the problems of fly-tipping and contamination, with nearly 40 per cent of centres regularly requiring an extra refuse collection vehicle to clear dumped waste or general waste from recycling bins. This has reportedly led to the council spending £15,000 a year clearing contaminated waste, and nearly £5,000 a year clearing fly-tipping.

Further, the extra demand on collection vehicles comes at a time when the council’s fleet faces longer journeys to dispose of waste, following Warwickshire County Council’s decision to switch the main disposal point to the Whitley incinerator in Coventry.

Conditions for closure

The council agreed the following points at their cabinet meeting on 19 August:

• that the closure be well-planned and publicised, including signage at the recycling centres;
• that parish councils and businesses which accommodate recycling bins be advised about trade waste contracts; and
• that the blue-lid recycling bin service be publicised.

Rugby Borough Council Portfolio Holder for Sustainable Environment, Dr Mark Williams, commented: "Our award-winning three-bin recycling service has proved a real success, and it's a success we're keen to build on. However, the cost of the bring sites, both in financial and environmental terms, can no longer be justified. Fly-tipping has also blighted the sites and continued contamination of recycling bins seriously compromises our recycling rates. It also leads to increased journeys for our fleet of refuse collection vehicles.”

Growing trend

Rugby Borough Council is not alone in deciding to close their small recycling centres, with North Hertfordshire District Council, Epping Forest District Council and Cotswold District Council also phasing out recycling bank services in the past few months.

North Hertfordshire stopped taking collections from its recycling banks in August, arguing that bring sites had become ‘obsolete’ and that the closure will save the council a gross annual cost of £148,000.

Councils removing recycling banks have argued that these plans have been implemented as a result of the success of kerbside collection services, but it could have a large impact on those living outside the remit of kerbside collection services, such as those living in flats or high-rise buildings.

Read more about recycling bring sites.