Landfill Collection to Become Fortnightly

Hounslow Council have announced the introduction of wheelie bins borough wide with great publicity but haven't mentioned their intentions to bring in a fortnightly waste collection for non-recyclables.

The Cabinet agreed the introduction of a fortnightly collection frequency for residual waste.

The Cabinet agreed the introduction of a charge for the collection of garden waste from April 2016 based on the collection of 240 litre wheeled bins on alternate weeks (with the residual waste service).

The Cabinet approved the policies at Appendix A and B of the report. These contain the full details of the wheelie bin policy and garden waste collection.

The Cabinet agreed to bring the service back under local authority control upon the termination of the current contract (which ends on 31 October 2016).

The introduction of a co-mingled recycling service based on the collection of 240 litre wheeled bins on alternate weeks (with the residual waste service). This would mean a second wheeled bin instead of the current green box and bags.
The retention of a weekly kerbside sorted service based as currently provided.
The possible redevelopment of the council’s civic amenity site at Space Waye to improve service provision and allow the council to handle collected recycled materials for onward processing.
The options for the sale/processing of collected recyclables;
To agree the financial implications set out in the report with final costings being reported to Cabinet in December.

All councils have been asked to achieve a 50% recycling target by 2020 and Hounslow has been at around 35% in recent years, the worst recycling level in West London.

SITA staff are employed on the minimum wage rather than the London Living Wage which Hounslow requires.

Garden waste will be via a(nother) 240l wheeled bin with the option of two sacks instead at a charge of £50 per year for fortnightly collection. This is expected to be brought in next April.