Milton Keynes recycling rate tumbles one month into Cory contract

Cory started the 40 million contract on October 2 and immediately ran into difficulties over its contract which involved switching from a weekly collection of recyclables to the collection of paper and board for recycling one week and other materials the next.

Figures recently given to the council’s environment committee show that for October the collection of paper and board (now collected in red boxes) was down 27.3% and glass, cans and plastics (blue boxes) was down 50.8%.
The council has set up a special team to review the contract and to examine the new recycling collection system which replaces a long-standing weekly collection that residents had grown accustomed to.

The contract has now become something of a political football in Milton Keynes where Labour holds power although no party has overall control. Council leader Norman Miles said at the weekend that one option could be to return to the weekly collection. But no decision will be taken until the costs have been looked at. However, the Cory contract is saving the council about 800,000 per year.

Previously the council was spending about 4.39 million a year on refuse collection and 3.3 million on recycling collection.

Performance targets set for Cory to ensure recycling grew from the former overall rate of 15.5% may be used by the council as a stick with which to beat the contractor.

A Cory spokesman said that the company considered it was still relatively early in the contract period. “We are looking forward to seeing the figures improve. Switching from weekly to a bi-weekly collection was a system that the council chose in the contract.”

Before the contract started, Paul Redman, Cory Environmental deputy general manager said: “We have taken a Best Value approach to this contract. We believe we have been chosen by Milton Keynes Council for our innovative solution to the combined collection of domestic refuse and recyclables which will make a significant contribution to meeting the challenging recycling and diversion targets recently set by Government. All employees of the existing contractor will transfer to Cory’s employment on 2 October 2000 when the new contract commences.”

One way which Milton Keynes Council hopes to improve its recycling rate is through greater composting and the collection of green waste from householders. Currently it sells green sacks at 30p a time which are collected. After covering costs it was agreed that about 13p should go to a local hospice, with the rest going in the form of commission to charities, schools, community organisations etc, distributing the sacks.
Around 30,000 sacks have been sold so far each year.

The council will also phase in clear green sacks (possibly biodegradeable) to make it easier to distinguish ‘ordinary’’ rubbish from the green waste, which should be composted.

Members felt that by giving the green sacks away there would have been a danger that people would use them for ordinary rubbish – risking contamination of green waste for compost.

Committee Vice Chair, Cllr Brian Morsley said: “Apart from recovering its costs this council should not be seen to be profiting out of recycling – and we should be actively encouraging people to do their bit for the environment.”