SOMERSET NEWS: We will need bigger wheelie bins, says Somerset MP

A SOMERSET MP has warned local councils in the county that they must ensure the adoption of three-weekly rubbish collection does not lead to an increase in fly-tipping.

Ian Liddell-Grainger (pictured above), Conservative MP for Bridgwater and West Somerset, says changes to collections agreed on Friday (December 16, 2016) by the Somerset Waste Partnership should theoretically make a valuable contribution to reducing the amount of waste sent to landfill – and thus the cost of disposing of it.

But, he said, the new system would have to be carefully monitored and appropriate information fed to the public if it was to achieve its goal.

All six councils in Somerset have backed the new regime which is designed to recycle almost 13,000 extra tonnes of waste currently sent to landfill each year and eventually save £1.7 million annually.

The scheme will be rolled out from late 2017 but even as councillors were meeting to approve it official figures revealed the Government’s drive to increase recycling nationally was faltering.

Statistics from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs show recycled tonnages falling partly because recycling units are rejecting consignments because they are contaminated – such as by food-encrusted containers.

Waste operators say the problem is largely down to a lack of education about the rights and wrongs of recycling.

And, said Mr Liddell-Grainger, that particular issued needed to be faced up to in Somerset.

“It’s important that only cleaned food containers are put out, whether or not they are being recycled,” he said.

“If they are not clean they can lead to recycling centres refusing to handle them. Equally if they are non–recyclable waste then to have them sitting in a sack uncleaned and waiting for collection for anything up to three weeks is obviously not desirable from a health perspective.”

Mr Liddell-Grainger called on the Somerset Waste Partnership to ensure all households had bins big enough to store three week’s waste to avoid the risk of more people resorting to fly-tipping – and for a standard set of rules to be applied at the county’s recycling centres.

“For instance, if you go to the Minehead centre with plasterboard you are told it is no longer accepted there and you have to take it to Williton,” he said.

“That’s a 16-mile round journey which hardly sounds like an environmentally-friendly option to me.”

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