It’s official. The introduction of a booking system to use the five household recycling centres in Shropshire has led to a decrease in waste being taken to the tips and an increase in fly-tipping, though some of that is due to the introduction of charges for collection of green waste.
The system was brought in to save around £200,000 a year by the cash strapped council which has all but abandoned its target to be net zero by 2030. The council is shrugging off the decrease in waste taken to the tips claiming it is reducing commercial waste and waste from outside the county but it has no hard evidence for this.
The view of Shropshire Council is that this is a settling in period and the booking system is beneficial. In my view, nothing that hampers waste collection and increases fly-tipping is beneficial.
The new booking system for household recycling centres was introduced at the beginning of November. The amount of general (non-recyclable) waste collected at the tip fell by a quarter (25.2%) in November compared to the previous November. In December, the fall was nearly a fifth (17.7%). In the three months to December, fly-tipping reported to the council was up 20%.
My colleague Rob Wilson (Lib Dem, Copthorne) uncovered this in a meeting of the Economy and Environment Overview and Scrutiny Committee on Thursday. He had asked the council what change there had been in the amount of waste taken to the HRCs and what increase there had been in fly-tipping.
The answer from the council was delivered with spin. Officers said there had been a “slight change in tonnage” after the booking system was introduced. It was more than a slight change. The aggregate reduction in non-recyclable waste over the two months was 16.2%, 1,200 tonnes of waste. That’s equivalent to the total waste produced by around 1,000 Shropshire households in a year.
The council attributes this to a drop in people from out of the county and businesses using Shropshire’s tips but it provides no statistics to support this. It also says that people are coming less often with larger loads. Again, no evidence was presented for this and in any event, that would not affect the drop in waste tonnage, just the number of trips.
The council says there has been no drop in the tonnage of recyclables delivered to the HRCs (it provides no data). This seems surprising given the drop in household waste. Do households take general waste in one trip, recycling in the next? That seems unlikely.
It is not possible to draw firm conclusions about trends in recycling from just two month’s data. The council should publish monthly data on both general waste and recyclables tonnage taken to HRCs so that trends can be monitored.
Where is the waste that does not make it to the tip going? Some is obviously fly tipped. The rest will be going in the black bin. The council should also monthly publish data on household bin volumes so that can also be monitored.
What a surprise – not! I was there earlier this week, As I had a trailer and a carful, I was there for about twenty minutes putting stuff into separate places. During that time two other cars arrived. Two! I don’t think I’ve ever seen it so underused. It’s also a flippin’ nuisance that I can’t book my car and small trailer in at the weekends. But look on the bright side. We all have the opportunity to vote them out in May – and good riddance.
Many a time I have been having a good clear out or doing some diy, generating more rubbish than expected & decided to do an imprompu trip to the tip. It’s very restricting having to book. A really pointless exercise to make people book. I just wonder if the move has more sinister undertones.i.e.;the tip is not being used so will need to shut.
On the other hand, having booked I know that there won’t be a queue waiting to get in. I can park, throw and leave.
As for fly tipping, yes it’s a nasty practice. But trawling back through the local press shows that it has been reported as increasing for many years; nothing unusual about this year.
It is not about the convenience of customers for tips. It about maximising recycling and waste disposal.
Fly tipping up 20% in three months is not unusual?
How was a booking system going to save £200k, is that meant to be the cost of treating waste from outside the area ?
How much money could they have saved/save by scrapping the North West relief road. I filled in the survey yesterday. Don’t suppose they will take much notice of my suggestion of slashing the leader’s and her fellow councillors salaries.
The notion that waste brought to Shropshire tips from other counties represents a net cost is flawed. It is likely that there is a balance between non-Shropshire waste tipped in Shropshire and Shropshire waste tipped in surrounding counties. People want to go to their closest tip regardless of county boundaries. Waste is waste and its efficient disposal is a common good that should not be hampered by geography, bureaucratic booking systems or councillors’ petty parochialism.
Quite agree. We have a reciprocal arrangement with Telford and Wrekin. We should have an agreement across the Marches Economic Partnership. That’s Shropshire, Powys, T&W and Herefordshire.
Stoke and Staffs is more difficult but could be agreed in time. Stoke only affects the Whitchurch tip which has only of the lowest volumes of waste. There is no problem with asking proof of address there but it is a waste of resources elsewhere. Pre-booking is needed in cities but we are not yet a city.
The Lib Dems are committed to scrapping the booking system.
i agree entirely. And the lack of data is a disgrace