Plymouth City Council has announced that it will be undertaking a ‘major reorganisation’ of its household waste and recycling collection rounds in ‘mid-January 2015’.

The move forms part of the council’s transformation programme that assesses how services can be amended to ‘save money, be more efficient and help protect essential services from the impact of government cuts’.

The proposed changes include:

• new routes and collection days for household waste and recycling (which will ‘lead to savings on fuel, reduced journey times and running costs’);
• new charges for delivering replacement bins (however, residents whose bins are lost or damaged will be able to pick up a bin from the depot without incurring the delivery charge);
• providing residents who use a bag system with the option to pick up bags free of charge from libraries and the council’s First Stop Shop (thus reducing wait times on delivery);
• a review of assisted collections to ensure that ‘only those who need the service get it’; and
• providing ‘clear, simple [recycling] policies consistently applied across the city’.

It is hoped the changes will help ‘gear up the service’ for the opening of Viridor’s new waste disposal plant in Chelson Meadow.

‘We remain committed to weekly bin collections’

The council’s Cabinet is being asked to approve these proposals at a meeting on Tuesday (12 August) in the hope of saving the council over £900,000 in three years.

According to Plymouth City Council, the savings will also mean it can continue to offer weekly, rather than fortnightly, residual waste collections (despite studies finding that alternate weekly collections can deliver higher recycling rates and reduced costs).

Speaking of the changes, Councillor Brian Vincent, Cabinet member for Environment, said: “The council is facing huge financial pressures due to government cuts to its budget.

“We remain committed to weekly bin collections and have looked at everything we do to see whether we can do them more efficiently, while making things easier for residents. By changing the routes we can cut down journey times, reduce the risk of missed collections and reduce costs. While this will mean a change in bin day for many households, we’ll make sure everyone is told of the change in plenty of time and will be able to check their new day online.”

He added that the introduction of charges for replacement bin delivery will provide the council with savings, as currently the cost for this service is ‘very high’, concluding: “Introducing a delivery charge will provide a greater incentive for people to do their bit and look after their bins, but still give people the opportunity to get a bin without the delivery charge, if they can collect it.

“We will make sure that once these changes are agreed we will work with residents to implement them, listen to feedback and make sure everyone is aware of what the need to do and when.”

Find out more about recycling in Plymouth.