Lib Dems Champion Recycling Review Suggestions

Lib Dems on Bedford Borough Council are calling for support from all councillors to implement the findings of a new review of recycling services, in particular in ironing out the problems that occurred when the 3 stream recycling was rolled out last April across one third of the Borough. The 3 stream system: orange bags, green bins or bags and usual black bins, is due to be extended to the other households in the Borough this October.

The review, which is the work of Lib Dems and others on the Council's Environment Policy Review and Development Committee, has been ongoing since early Autumn of last year. It looked at the existing ways in which recycled waste was collected as well as hearing the views of local residents, voluntary organisations environmental specialists and Borough and County council officers. Already some of the key points have been acted upon such as the maintenance of a weekly collection of household waste and the rolling out of a new separate fortnightly recycled waste collection. Now with the final publication of the review Lib Dems hope support for the remaining points will help improve recycling for the whole borough.

Speaking on the issue Lib Dem Environment Spokesperson Christine McHugh, who was a leading member of the review, said:

"There seemed to be a lot of confusion and lack of information when the last recycling scheme was introduced. It didn't help that there were different methods of collecting waste in different parts of the borough. Also a lot of people didn't feel confident that their recycled waste was being dealt with correctly. I called for this review because it's important that we have a scheme which local people support and in which they feel encouraged to participate. It's great to see that a lot of people got involved in the consultation exercises that the review instigated. The review itself brought up some useful points about how people view the system and what they would like done to improve it.

We've already seen the Council take on board our suggestions that the 3 stream collection be rolled out to the whole borough. Now we want to see support for the rest of the reviews findings. We want to greater promotion of the scheme to encourage more people to get involved. We need a more resources devoted to the help desk should any problems arise, so that people's requests are dealt with promptly. We want clearer information on how the scheme works, available for everybody and we want more support for the county-wide Waste Authorities Partnership to help it work more effectively.

I believe we need to provide a recycling service that people feel confident about using and I hope that the conclusions of this review will go someway to achieving this and increasing the level of recycling across the Borough.

The Executive chose to defer making a decision on this issue but I hope when the recommendations are discussed it will win support from all councillors."

ENDS