by Michael Smith (Veshengro)
The Council of Bolton, in Lancashire, England, is considering a reduction in the number of kerbside recycling collections it makes, according to reports.
Bolton Council is trying desperately to save money as central government calls on local authorities to curb their spending, and it seems to have identified its waste programme as a potential cost-saver.
However, the plans to switch to monthly collections of recyclable material would be a blow to recycling firms in the area, as fears are raised of a reduction in the amount of waste being reused.
This is despite communities secretary Eric Pickles stating that the cancellation of weekly rubbish collections was eroding trust in the democratic process.
Bolton Council, however, insists that switching to monthly collections is one way of making the service more efficient, and it denies that service will be severely affected.
“Bolton Council is currently developing a waste strategy which will examine a number of ways to make our waste collection and waste disposal services more economical and efficient,” a spokesman for the authority said.
The fact that recycling firms are worried about losing the recyclables on a fortnightly or even weekly basis is that they cannot see any other way of getting the stuff cheaply. But there are other ways.
One of them would be for the companies to start their own recyclables collection system or, better still, pay people for recyclables when they bring them in to centers that could be set up.
This kind of system does work very well in the United States, for instance, and it would appear to be a total win-win situation for both sides. But, quite obviously, this would not work in Britain, they would say, because Britain is different.
Paying people to bring in the materials that you want would, obviously, mean having to sacrifice a little on the profit margin but I am certain that, like in the USA, it could work very well in Britain and could be of benefit to all sides.
Why don't we think about it...
© 2011
