Waste war hots up

As the mountain of refuse continues to grow, experts at Wiltshire County Council and Swindon Borough Council are shaping a new Wiltshire and Swindon Waste Local Plan to find ways of cutting back on landfill and boosting the re-use of valuable material resources.

Last week a Government planning inspector opened a public inquiry in Devizes into the waste local plan giving members of the public and organisations the chance to air their views on the draft waste plan.

The public inquiry is likely to go on until July, as some 50 people explain their objections, from around 2,000 who raised objections to the first draft.

While district councils are responsible for the collection of waste, Wiltshire County Council takes charge of the disposal.

The Waste Local Plan, once adopted, will give planning guidance on land use associated with waste disposal recycling sites, Waste To Energy incineration sites and composting sites.

Previous local plans have simply designated preferred areas for new landfill sites, but the new plan focuses on the aims of re-use and recycling with no new landfill sites at all, as reserve sites have already been earmarked.

Across the county 31 preferred areas have been identified suitable for waste treatment sites, such as composting and recycling and three sites have been picked out for WTE.

The WTE incineration sites, at Hills in Compton Bassett, near Amesbury and at Westbury, have triggered a number of objections with many people unhappy about the policy of burning waste to create energy, because they fear possible pollution and oppose the waste of resources.

Other objectors have questioned the recycling targets set out in the local plan because they want the targets to be much higher.

And another group of protesters is objecting to the use of specific sites such as the county council depot off Salisbury Road in Marlborough.

Nearby residents are concerned the use of the site as a household recycling centre will affect the amenity of their homes.

Wiltshire currently recycles about 20 per cent of its waste but the Government wants to see the level boosted to 33 per cent by the year 2005-6.

The county council faces an uphill battle because householders are throwing away more and more every year.

Nationally household waste is increasing by between three and four per cent but in Wiltshire the rise is closer to five per cent, probably because of the increasing population.

Andy Conn, waste local plan team leader, said education and information were a major part of the process to cut back on waste.

"We do need to encourage people to recycle," he said. "There is a big educational element to this. Even in areas where kerbside recycling has been introduced, not everyone chooses to do it."

Kerbside recycling is part of the county council's thrust to cut back on landfill and the larger towns across the county will have kerbside recycling for paper and card, textiles, aluminium and steel cans and glass by the summer thanks to a £1 million grant in the first year.

"We must encourage people, once they get their recycling boxes, to use them," said Mr Conn.

Household recycling centres also rely on the will of people to use them, and to date they have proved a success with the tonnage of recycled materials increasing all the time.

Now Mr Conn is looking to the Government to help develop markets for recycled materials.

But the county council's success in meeting the new recycling targets relies heavily on residents changing their views on waste, and making the effort in their own homes to cut back on rubbish through recycling, composting and re-use.

How county is wasting away

The residents of Wiltshire throw away around 240,000 of household waste every year. This equates to around a tonne of rubbish for each household.

Over the past year 50,000 tonnes of household waste has been recycled around 20 per cent of the total mostly through paper/bottle banks in store car parks and household recycling centres.

Industrial and commercial waste amounts to around 689,000 tonnes a year.

Around 48 per cent of industrial and commercial waste is saved from the landfill sites some 220,000 tonnes are recycled, some is re-used and some is incinerated.

Every week each household throws away on average four glass bottles, 13 cans, 5kg of paper and three plastic bottles.

Waste in North Wiltshire increases by about five per cent a year and recycling of household rubbish stands at eight per cent.

Every day 120 refuse lorries empty their loads into the landfill site at Compton Bassett.

Village points way to eco-friendly future

Neston village is the perfect example of a community that is taking recycling into it's own hands.

The Neston Recycling Group was formed by residents last October with the aim of making the village the most environmentally friendly community in Wiltshire.

Founder member Andy Collett said: "People feel strongly about protecting the environment and making a difference. They want to be able to recycle more and many are worried about the destruction of our planet."

The group won a grant from the Millennium Award Scheme to help pay for 200 compost bins to be placed around the village for everyone to use.

The group will also be running a Green Village Day on September 13 and developing a website with the funding.

It will also be putting together a recycling directory and providing specialist advice to those who compost their green waste.

Neston is also home to Energy for Sustainable Development, Europe's leading climate change and sustainable energy company.

And a green approach to thinking is beginning to affect many areas of village life. Stuart Little, chairman of Neston Memorial Hall, said he hoped that redevelopment work on the building could incorporate solar panels in the future to supply it with electricity.

New service ready to roll

Preparations are well underway for the launch this summer of a kerbside recycling service across wide areas of Wiltshire.

More than 57,000 of the county's households will receive the service.

A fleet of six specialised collection vehicles, each costing £84,000, has been ordered, together with the recycling boxes that will be delivered to homes. An information campaign is being developed to deliver the recycling message across the county.

The scheme is being introduced by the Wiltshire Waste Partnership, which brings together Wiltshire County Council with the district councils for Kennet, North Wiltshire, Salisbury and West Wiltshire.

It has been made possible by a successful bid for almost £1 million of funding from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

The recycling service will be delivered by Marlborough-based Hills Waste. "The experience of local authorities launching kerbside recycling schemes is that around 55 per cent of households participate," said Hills recycling manager Tim Miller.

"But I am confident that, given the level of environmental awareness in Wiltshire, we will beat that."

The new service will enable householders to recycle newspapers and magazines, glass bottles and jars, steel and aluminium cans, textiles and aluminium foil.

It will cover 35 per cent of the county's households and include Calne and Calne Without, Chippenham, Corsham, Devizes, Marlborough, Melksham, Trowbridge and Wootton Bassett.

Heavy financial and environmental costs mean it is unlikely more rural areas will be included in future plans for kerbside collections, but they will benefit from the county's growing network of recycling banks.