Witney News - Weekly recycling in Witney to continue

Weekly recycling in Witney to continue

West Oxfordshire District Council is reassuring residents that weekly household recycling collections will continue as part of its commitment to boost recycling rates in the District. Plans are also to add additional recycling with a separate weekly kitchen waste collection. This will cause a reduction in residual waste allowing the non-recyclable bins to be collected fortnightly. It is forecasted that these changes will not be implemented until 2008 at the earliest.

"The amount of waste going to landfill has to be reduced substantially, so doing nothing is not an option." says Cllr David Harvey, Cabinet Member for Environment. "Because our current household waste collection system is very popular, we have looked at all the options available to us and believe that the one we are proposing is the best for our residents."

Cllr Harvey continues, "Councils throughout the country are moving to fortnightly collections, which cause concerns that after two weeks food waste will smell and attract flies, particularly during the summer. This is why we are proposing a separate weekly collection of kitchen food waste, which will be taken for composting and have the additional advantage of increasing our recycling."

The Council is proposing to continue with its chargeable garden waste collection service, but will be encouraging residents to compost more at home as part of a general drive to minimise waste.

Failure to meet Government targets in 2010 will lead to penalties for authorities who are not diverting enough of their waste from landfill. The fines will be high at £150 a tonne and fall on local tax payers, so all local authorities not currently meeting these targets are likely to be introducing new systems. In Oxfordshire there is a county-wide agreement to reduce waste and each Council is reviewing their current waste collections.