Council household waste site
Discussion
About three years ago we "lost" our local council tip with the council stating they can't afford to run it (I allways assumed they made money from the waste but then I guess it's the council so maybe I expect too much!) and it was shut down. The nearest tip was Cambridge (and they would check you were local) or one at another town about 30 mins round trip.
There is now a charity that runs the site and they charge you for dumping your waste, £3 for walk-in and cars and £6 for estate cars but they do not recycle some stuff, car batteries, car/veg oil etc.
No I know this may encourage people to recycle, and I always recycle my stuff meticulously (we have a seperate blue bin) and clean out pots and the like before they go into the bin, but it also makes people fly tip.
My question is: is there some kind of law that forces the council to have a local household waste site or is it just tough s
t. Suck it up!?
(I just want to point out I need to use of a tip once a year maybe and the last time I took loads of oil to recycle.)
There is now a charity that runs the site and they charge you for dumping your waste, £3 for walk-in and cars and £6 for estate cars but they do not recycle some stuff, car batteries, car/veg oil etc.
No I know this may encourage people to recycle, and I always recycle my stuff meticulously (we have a seperate blue bin) and clean out pots and the like before they go into the bin, but it also makes people fly tip.
My question is: is there some kind of law that forces the council to have a local household waste site or is it just tough s
t. Suck it up!?(I just want to point out I need to use of a tip once a year maybe and the last time I took loads of oil to recycle.)
There will be an obligation to offer some form of service, but not in every town or village. It is a County Council or Unitary Council service.
Suspect they are complying with their obligations as they offer it just not somewhere convenient to you. Of course restricted household waste sites have nothing to do with an increase in fly tipping!
Suspect they are complying with their obligations as they offer it just not somewhere convenient to you. Of course restricted household waste sites have nothing to do with an increase in fly tipping!
A topic I can offer some insight into- I work in the waste and recycling sector.
Councils do not have to provide local tips, but it is generally in their best interests to do so in terms of effective waste management and providing a service. Councils have tough targets to increasing their recycling rate, reduce the amount of waste per household and reduce the amount of waste sent to landfill.
Tips do not make money for the council. The council may own the site itself (they often do), but they will contract a waste company to manage it (Veolia, Sita, Shanks, Viridor etc). This costs the council money- though the contracts vary. They might pay a flat rate based on a contracted amount of waste, or they will pay £x per tonne of residual waste, £y for garden waste and £z per tonne of recyclable waste- some of those numbers will be £90+ cost, and some might be £0 or less (again they will have contracted amounts of waste). So depending on the contract, the tips may reduce the waste management cost for the local authority, but the local authority will not make a profit on them (the waste companies do through a gate fee or payment from the council, and then for the sale of recyclable material).
One example of the finances- one council pays £95 per tonne for a company to collect and dispose of their black bag waste, but is paid £35 per tonne of mixed recyclables (waste management company will turnover between £50-200 per tonne through sales of this material). Overall the council doesn't make a profit, but as the costs of disposal increase they would hope to increase the recycling rate so that the overall cost to them remains about the same.
Councils do not have to provide local tips, but it is generally in their best interests to do so in terms of effective waste management and providing a service. Councils have tough targets to increasing their recycling rate, reduce the amount of waste per household and reduce the amount of waste sent to landfill.
Tips do not make money for the council. The council may own the site itself (they often do), but they will contract a waste company to manage it (Veolia, Sita, Shanks, Viridor etc). This costs the council money- though the contracts vary. They might pay a flat rate based on a contracted amount of waste, or they will pay £x per tonne of residual waste, £y for garden waste and £z per tonne of recyclable waste- some of those numbers will be £90+ cost, and some might be £0 or less (again they will have contracted amounts of waste). So depending on the contract, the tips may reduce the waste management cost for the local authority, but the local authority will not make a profit on them (the waste companies do through a gate fee or payment from the council, and then for the sale of recyclable material).
One example of the finances- one council pays £95 per tonne for a company to collect and dispose of their black bag waste, but is paid £35 per tonne of mixed recyclables (waste management company will turnover between £50-200 per tonne through sales of this material). Overall the council doesn't make a profit, but as the costs of disposal increase they would hope to increase the recycling rate so that the overall cost to them remains about the same.
Aretnap said:
GTIR said:
The nearest tip was Cambridge (and they would check you were local)
Do they? I've used it many times, and never once been asked where I was from, or even been spoken too by the staff beyond a "put it over there" type grunt.tting. He's known for it. I guess it'll be re-introduced when things improve.
I do know that there are European WEEE regs which require electrical equipment to be disposed of properly rather than just dumped in landfill, so I would have thought if your council doesn't provide you with facilities to do this (our local council tip has a shipping crate which is always full of old PCs & TVs etc), they could be in breach of this legislation.
Aretnap said:
Do they? I've used it many times, and never once been asked where I was from, or even been spoken too by the staff beyond a "put it over there" type grunt.
I used it last weekend and they couldn't have been more helpful - they even unloaded the rubbish from my car and stuck it in the skips for me. Not once did they ask where I live. At our local tip (Kingston) you have to show the permit which is issued with your council tax bill. Changed from the time when everyone from far and wide would dump their rubbish as part of their shopping trip.
Any improvement from fewer people visiting has been more than outweighed by the amount of time you need to spend there crossing backwards and forwards with different types of waste - wood 20 yards down to the left, metal at the far end on the right, wood with metal on it ??Who knows. Fine if you're only taking one category of stuff though. Also, best to go when it is pouring down with rain. Only the true enthusiasts go then so no queueing.
Any improvement from fewer people visiting has been more than outweighed by the amount of time you need to spend there crossing backwards and forwards with different types of waste - wood 20 yards down to the left, metal at the far end on the right, wood with metal on it ??Who knows. Fine if you're only taking one category of stuff though. Also, best to go when it is pouring down with rain. Only the true enthusiasts go then so no queueing.
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