The London Borough of Hounslow has become the latest local authority (LA) to take control of its waste services after its cabinet agreed yesterday (22 September) to bring waste and recycling collection in house from November 2016.

Taking its collection service in house is part of a wider overhaul to the service that could see the council move away from a kerbside-sort system and introduce a co-mingled service.

The moves are an attempt to address the borough’s ‘stagnating’ recycling rate, which is currently stuck between 34 and 36 per cent, which the council states is the worst in West London and compares to performance levels of around 50 per cent in ‘good-performing London boroughs’.

As part of the West London Waste Authority’s joint Municipal Waste Strategy, as well as the Mayor of London’s own Municipal Waste Strategy, the council has agreed a target of 50 per cent recycling of municipal waste by 2020.

According to the council, the envisaged changes to the collection service are projected to increase recycling by 15 per cent by 2018/19 – leading to a reduction of 15,000 tonnes of waste going to landfill each year and saving £1.35 million in landfill costs.

Recent budget cuts mean that all services at Hounslow council are required to reduce costs by 35 per cent, meaning that the waste and recycling service must cuts its budget by £2.1 million per year.

Agreed changes

At yesterday’s meeting of the council’s cabinet, it was agreed that upon the termination of the current waste collection contract with SUEZ, which occurs on 31 October 2016, the service will be brought under LA control.

This move would, the council report presented at the cabinet meeting states, give councillors more control over the service being delivered, as well as saving an estimated £500,000 a year. Staff currently employed by SUEZ would be transferred into the council workforce.

In addition, it was agreed to reduce the weekly collection service of low-rise households to fortnightly from July 2016, and introduce a £50 annual fee for residents to have garden waste collected every two weeks.

Kerbside sort vs co-mingled

The cabinet meeting also set in motion an investigation into whether the council should retain its current kerbside-sort system or move to a co-mingled system that would collect residual and recyclable waste on alternate weeks.

Moving to a co-mingled system, the report suggests, would reduce manual handling risks, increase the speed of collection, reduce emissions and congestion and bring the council’s collection methodology into line with most other West London boroughs.

Redevelopment of the council’s Space Waye civic amenity site will also be considered to provide greater provision for waste transfer for onward processing. This work is expected to cost around £1.5 million.

Changes helping to standardise West London collection systems

Authoring the report presented to the cabinet, Councillor Amrit Mann, Deputy Leader and Lead Member for the Environment said: ‘We have looked at the best performance levels in London and in neighbouring authorities and believe that these changes will simplify the recycling collection service which will encourage occasional and non-recyclers to participate in the council’s recycling schemes.

‘Our new system would replicate what most other local authorities are doing in West London and will help to standardise collection systems across the area.

‘We also plan to transform the management system for the service so that we can be confident that performance statistics are reliable and transparent, and residents can receive accurate up to the minute information if they have problems with their collections.’

LAs taking matters into their own hands

A number of other LAs have also taken the decision to move waste services in house this year as they seek to drive down costs.

Earlier in September, Middlesbrough Council moved to end its contract with Biffa early and integrate recycling services into its existing in-house refuse collection services.

Bristol, Liverpool and Newcastle-under-Lyme have also announced plans to take control of waste services in recent months.

Read the London Borough of Hounslow’s report into its waste and recycling service.