A major overhaul of the provision of Norfolk’s household waste recycling centre (HWRC) system could see 13 of the county’s facilities close, after a Norfolk County Council (NCC) report proposed a smaller network with expanded services.

A meeting of the council’s Environment, Development and Transport Committee this Friday (18 September) will discuss the proposals as it seeks to cut its budget by a required £440,000 per year.

The report suggests a number of short-term solutions, such as closing Docking Recycling Centre, Norfolk’s smallest and least-visited site, as soon as next year. Other measures include making three HWRCs part-time (closed from Monday to Wednesday) and reducing the opening hours of all but one of the 20 sites in the county.

However, the prospect of overhauling the entire system, developing a ‘smaller [operating with either seven or 13 sites] network of modern super-sites, with a wider range of recycling and reuse facilities’ will also be discussed.

It is estimated that this would require investment of between £9 million and £12 million over a number of years, but the council states that such a move would help improve its 42.8 per cent recycling rate and save £700,000 a year with a network of 13 sites, or potentially up to £1.4 million a year if reduced to seven.

Council justification for change

NCC currently operates 20 HWRCs, split into three categories: eight ‘Main Recycling Centre (MRC) Plus’ sites, which provide ‘pay as you throw’ facilities for DIY waste over the concessionary 80-litre bag weekly limit, accept tyres for a fee and have a reuse area; six ‘MRCs’, which provide a ‘standard service’; and six ‘Part-Time Recycling Centres’, which are closed on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.

The system costs £5 million per year to run and receives, according to council figures, 1.4 million visitors every year. Though the council has made savings of £2 million a year through a new service-level agreement over the last year, plans to charge residents £2 per HWRC visit have been put under review following central government intervention, meaning it still needs to reduce costs by £447,000 per year.

The council abides by a policy that strives to provide HWRCs within an 8.5 mile radius of all households. At present, it says that 96 per cent of the county’s population is within this distance from Friday to Monday, dropping to 93 per cent when the part-time centres close in midweek.

However, it notes that over the 30 years since this policy was established in 1985, changes in the nature of vehicles used by residents, public expectations, the increase in recyclable materials and introduction of kerbside recycling schemes have all resulted in a change of emphasis on HWRC use.

The report compares HWRC provision in Norfolk to that in other authorities, and notes that the county has the largest number of sites (joint on 20 with North Yorkshire) whilst also having the fifth lowest population per site figures (42,894).

Under the proposal to reduce the network to seven ‘super’ sites, each would serve around 122,500 residents and 76 per cent of the population would be within a 20-minute drive, with 96 per cent within 30 minutes.

The council also notes that there is a trend of reducing tonnage of waste at the site, but an increase in recycling levels. The system, it says, currently takes 22 separate waste streams for reuse, recycling and disposal.

Therefore, it argues, with many of the current HWRC sites confined by space and unable to expand to accommodate new services, a smaller network with a greater range of services for reuse and recycling would serve the needs of the population better.

Norfolk’s district councils introduced a uniform kerbside recycling collection service in October last year, taking a co-mingled bin that takes glass, cardboard, aluminium, paper, plastic bottles and tubs, pots and trays.

New system would ‘deliver big savings’ to taxpayers

Commenting on the proposed changes, Toby Coke, Chairman of the Environment, Development and Transport Committee, said: “The council as a whole is facing very tough choices, and if we are to protect vital services to our most vulnerable residents, we’ve got to find ways of reducing pressure on our day-to-day spend.

“We’ve made the recycling service more efficient, but we need to bridge the remaining… budget gap. This package of measures is designed to affect far fewer residents than the previous proposals, and includes a brand new service offering small businesses an affordable way to recycle their waste.

“I realise that people who use Docking recycling centre will be disappointed at the proposal to close their site, but it is far and away the smallest and most under-used in the county, and we simply cannot afford to keep it open – especially when there is good access to Wells, Heacham and King's Lynn recycling centres which also cover the Docking area.

“Even if we agree to make these changes, we still need to consider what type of recycling network we run in the future. The proposals for fewer, larger, modern sites are worthy of serious and dispassionate consideration, particularly if such a system can improve our recycling performance and deliver big savings for council tax payers.”

Union considering action over proposals

In response to NCC considering the switch to a reduced number of HWRCs, trade union GMB has threatened industrial action.

GMB Regional Organiser Ivan Mercer said: “These proposals have not been well thought out. But these proposals will affect every GMB member and resident of Norfolk. This will have a devastating effect on the job security and morale of staff providing the service.

“These men and women provide an excellent service in a sometimes difficult environment. Most are low paid and I know many rely on benefits. This appears to be more profit led than for any concerns for the environment.

“NCC already make a decent profit from the existing HWRC service. However members know that with a bit of investment from NCC they could not just provide a better service, they could improve efficiency across the sites and make them a better place to work as well.

“Our members are crying out to be consulted on how they can improve the profitability and efficiency on site. There are not really many incentives at the moment but they are still doing it and still providing a profitable service.

“With these proposed changes to the HWRC service, members may have to consider action on this as well. GMB will be consulting with its members over the next few weeks to determine what their response will be."

County councils struggling to balance budgets

County councils across the UK are increasingly looking at partially closing HWRCs in order to save money.

From June of this year, Wiltshire Council began closing all of its 11 HWRCs for two days a week on rotation, while October last year saw East Sussex County Council limit three centres to Friday to Saturday openings in a move predicted to ‘achieve financial savings’ of around £250,000 per year.

Earlier in 2014, local authority (LA) cost-cutting initiatives saw Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council close all four of its HWRCs for one day a week, Aylesbury Vale District Council remove more than 80 council-run recycling banks and Dorset Waste Partnership remove around 100 recycling bring banks.

Read the Norfolk County Council report on HWRC provision.