Waste Management Services Question and Answer Sheet February 2014 THE NEW RECYCLING SERVICE 1. When will the new recycling service start? Veolia Environmental Services will start collecting your kerbside recycling from the 31 st March 2014. A new purple top wheelie bin will be provided for your cans, glass and plastic. Veolia are starting to deliver the bins from the 31 st March and the deliveries will take up to 5 weeks. Please continue to use your old containers until your new one arrives. 2. Will my bin day change? Your collection day will remain the same kerbside recycling and garden waste collection one week and rubbish collection the following week. If you require a collection calendar please visit www.telford.gov.uk/bindayfinder 3. Where do I put my new recycling bin when putting out for collection? There is no change to your collection point. 4. Where will the recycling go? The recycling will go to the nearest suitable recycling facility to Telford and Wrekin which accepts mixed recycling, this is in Staffordshire. CONTAINERS 5. Will I get a new recycling container? You will receive a new grey wheelie bin with a purple top for recycling your cans, glass and plastic. Paper and Cardboard will be collected in the same containers as before blue box and blue bag. Mixing your paper and card together in one container is acceptable as these items will be collected together on the new collection vehicles. 6. When will I get my new purple top recycling bin? Veolia will start delivering the new purple top recycling bin to households across the Borough from 31 st March 2014; they aim for all households to have received their bin by the middle of May 2014. 7. When can I start to use my new recycling bin? As soon as you receive your new purple top recycling bin you can start using it for plastic, cans and glass, along with your blue box and blue bag (for paper and cardboard). Please put it out on your normal collection day in the same location. 8. What size is my new recycling bin? Your new purple top bin is the same size as your refuse bin. (240litres) 9. Will you still collect my recycling if I present in my old containers? Yes. Until your new purple top bin arrives continue to use the ones you already have. Once your new bin has arrived start using this for glass, cans and plastic instead, along with mixing paper and card and presenting this in the blue bag OR blue box that you already have. Mixing your paper and card together in one
container is acceptable as these items will be collected together on the new collection vehicles. If you have sufficient recycling, please use both your blue box and your blue bag. 10. Won t this new recycling bin start to smell? Residents are recommended to rinse recycling materials before placing them in their new bin. This will prevent unwanted odours. 11. What happens if I have more recycling than will fit into the new purple top wheelie bin and/or the blue box/blue bag? If you regularly have additional recycling then extra containers will be provided on request. We encourage residents to recycle as much as possible. If you need more capacity for your recycling once the new service has started please request extra containers via the Telford and Wrekin Council Customer Contact Centre on 01952 384384 or www.telford.gov.uk/recycling 12. What do I do with my old red recycling box and orange net? If you would like to keep the red box and orange net to use for your own purposes, you can. If you would like them collected, further details as to how this can be arranged will be in the leaflet which you will receive at the start of the new service. Please do not continue to use these to present your recycling once you have received your new purple top bin 13. What happens if my recycling containers are broken? New recycling containers can be ordered by contacting the Telford and Wrekin Council Customer Contact Centre on 01952 384384 or www.telford.gov.uk/recycling 14. Can I use my old red box as well as my blue box for my card and paper? Only use the blue box/and or bag for your card and paper. If you do not have enough capacity please contact the Telford and Wrekin Council Customer Contact Centre on 01952 384384 or www.telford.gov.uk/recycling 15. Why did you choose this colour for the bin? This is a colour that has not been used before and therefore should not be confused with any other previous service provided. 16. What if I don t want another bin/haven t got room for another bin? We are asking all residents to try using the new bin for a period of one month. After that time, alternatives may be available depending on your circumstances. Please contact the Telford and Wrekin Council Customer Contact Centre on 01952 384384 or www.telford.gov.uk/recycling MATERIALS FOR RECYCLING 17. What can I put in my new purple top recycling bin? Your new purple top wheelie bin is for recycling your cans, glass and plastic. Paper and Cardboard will be collected in the same containers as before blue box and blue bag. Mixing your paper and card together in one container is acceptable as these items will be collected together on the new collection vehicle. 18. Where do I put my batteries? Residents are requested to place household batteries in a small plastic bag, which should be tied and placed on top of their purple top recycling wheelie bin. 19. Where do I put my low energy light bulbs? Residents are requested to place low energy light bulbs in a small plastic bag,
which should be tied and placed on top of their purple top recycling wheelie bin. 20. Where do I put my textiles? Residents can present clean, dry textiles, in any condition; in a plastic bag, which should be tied and placed next to their purple top recycling bin. Residents are requested not to present textiles in a black sack as this may be confused with refuse. 21. Does it matter if I mix the cardboard and paper up in the blue box/blue bag? You can present card and paper in either or both containers mixed. Please ensure containers are not too heavy. Mixing your paper and card together in one container, is acceptable as these items will be collected together on the new collection vehicle. 22. Are you going to stop collecting cardboard? Cardboard will continue to be collected in the blue bag or box as normal. Mixing your paper and card together in one container is acceptable as these items will be collected together on the new collection vehicle. 23. Can I put shredded paper out for collection? Small amounts of shredded paper can be added loose to your paper container (equivalent to a carrier bag in volume), please make sure this is not going to cause a litter problem by weighting it down with your other card and paper in your box or sack. 24. Can I put out black plastic for collection? Yes, this can be placed in the new purple top recycling bin. However, items such as plastic bags and film of any colour are not accepted and should be placed in your refuse bin. THE NEW CONTRACT 25. What savings have been delivered through the new Contract? 1.37 million per annum onwards has been saved from the existing waste budgets. Circa 30 million of savings have been delivered as a result of pre and post procurement initiatives. 26. What happens to the green and residual collections and CRCs under the new contract? This will continue to be collected under the current contract by TWS Ltd on the same collection days up to the expiry of existing contract arrangements in 2019. From then, this service will be delivered by the new contractor. The disposal of residual waste will fall under the new contract from 2014 and there will be a managed interface between the two contracts during this interim period. 27. Are there opportunities to gain financial benefits from Commercial waste? A royalty payment will be made to the Council where third party waste is taken through any new facility which will be paid for through the Contract and transferred into Council ownership at the end. With regard to collections of Commercial Waste analysis for all of England shows that household waste makes up only 9% of total wastes produced and industrial and commercial waste makes up around 32% (remainder is made up of mining and quarrying (29%) dredging (5%) construction and demolition (32%)). As Telford and Wrekin s household waste is currently 74,782 tonnes a year, this would equate to over 200,000 tonnes of industrial and commercial waste in the borough. However, of this a significant amount of waste would require costly specialist disposal e.g. scrap, plastics, liquids, hazardous wastes. There are existing established competitive companies carrying out these collections which would make it a
disadvantage for the Council to compete as these companies have established processes for accepting and managing these wastes in a cost beneficial way. 28. Why a 24 year contract? The Council has balanced various factors in deciding the appropriate Contract length with the aim of driving out best value, lowering annual contract costs and enabling investment into the service and associated facilities and equipment: The objective has been to maximise efficiencies by bringing together existing Contracts which expire from between 2014 and 2019. To achieve this and to allow for investment in new infrastructure and equipment, consideration has been given to the length of time needed to keep the Contract cost as low as possible. The new infrastructure will also optimise the vehicle replacement frequency by gaining from the increased life expectancy from those vehicles. The Contract has been structured to allow future flexibility in how waste is managed. A new dedicated waste handling facility will allow for collected waste to be delivered to the appropriate reprocessing facilities, providing long-term security to the Council in delivering an important front-line service. The Contract documentation will also allow for either party to introduce changes through negotiation or as may be required as result of regulatory changes. A mechanism has been built into the Contract for income from the sale of recyclables to be offset against the cost of the Contract. A mechanism is also included to review this level of income at stages in the contract such that the amount paid by the Council will benefit from any future increases in this income. It also important to mention that procurement processes are costly as they are resource intensive. More frequent procurements from contracts requiring renewal are usually less attractive to the market because of the costs associated with the bid preparation and are thus more costly. Procurement costs for the Council is also a factor 29. Will it cost me any more money? Costs of waste management have become higher in recent years due to changes in landfill tax. The new service is designed to increase levels of recycling and to divert waste which cannot be recycled from landfill, both of which will reduce these cost pressures 30. What contracts are up for renewal and by when? New contract arrangements will be managed through a single contract (i.e. the existing contracts that end in 2014 and 2019 will be replaced as they expire by the new contract). This will maximise future service efficiencies. Waste management contracts requiring replacement are: Recycling collection and treatment contract from 2014 Residual waste treatment / disposal contract from 2014 Residual Waste and green collection and treatment contract from 2019 Community recycling centres from 2019 31. Why are we having two different companies collecting household waste? The new contract for recycling collection is to commence on 31 st March 2014. Due to contractual reasons the new contract for collecting and disposing of your non recyclable rubbish does not start until 2019. Until then Telford and Wrekin Council will use two different contractors who will work in parallel. In 2019 all recycling and
rubbish will be collected and disposed of by Veolia. 32. How does the new service fit with the revised Waste Framework Directive? The collection method Veolia has selected for recycling in Telford & Wrekin has been chosen giving due consideration to the local needs (of the authority and the householder). It has been crafted to keep number of bins and costs down for householders, as well as offering a practical workable solution which will deliver the required result of increased volume of marketable recyclate. A recent Judicial Review ruling has confirmed that as long as we can get the quality we need from recyclate, it is perfectly legitimate to implement a co-mingled collection methodology. In fact, considering all the new materials we are likely to be required to collect to increase recycling levels in the future; having a separate bin for each material appears to be neither practical nor economically viable. Veolia does agree with current DEFRA strategy in this regard and recommend glass is collected separately from paper, but even then there may be particular exceptions in order to overall maximise recycling and present the best solution in a given location. 33. What will be the value of the Contract? The actual budget over the 24 year period at current day prices is 137.43 million. 34. Where do I find out further information on the new recycling collection service? You can contact Telford and Wrekin Council Customer Contact Centre on 01952 384384 or www.telford.gov.uk/recycling