One can certainly be kind to the council and say they have both legally-enforceable recycling rates to hit, and financial savings to make.
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| Now it's 1,2,3 weeks per collection, not 3,2,1,! |
However, the EU legislation that necessitated recycling targets came into effect a very, very long time ago. Like many other councils, Anglesey have simply sat on their hands for several years before getting to grips with the problem of waste reduction.
But let's get back to the immediate problem: can a monthly bin collection work? An analysis of waste going into my black bin casts very serious doubt that it can.
This family recycles all that the council accepts. This excludes a large number of plastics, notably packaging plastic and films, that the council can't get rid of. As a result, our bin content over two weeks is currently almost entirely made up of packaging plastic. All our food waste is composted within our garden.
What this tells you is that, for families, monthly collections will result in ludicrously full bins. In summer, they will smell, although the reduced amount of food waste put into them should limit this compared to days gone by.
Councils, of course, have never been able - or perhaps willing - to tackle sellers and makers of food on the plastics they produce. As a result, the manufacturers are able to dispose of the waste they (and not us) createat zero cost to themselves. This has always been a sore-thumb sticking out in need of attention, but it's remained unresolved.
One might argue that, with monthly bin collections, the pressure will mount on food producers to cut down on the amount of thin and film plastic they use to wrap all our products in. But it's uncertain. Plastic bags didn't really become a controlled item until the Welsh Government banned free bags. I think packaging plastics will have to similarly be controlled through legislation.
So, yes, the Council does have a genuine problem on its hands. But then, has anyone started to look in depth at the years-long contracts handed out to private companies - who must make a profit - for taking over the waste collection and processing functions in the first place? Therein must lie some pretty hefty savings - provided you can find good managers that are allowed to manage by Councils.
