By Norman Jorgensen
Collecting up and taking away our household waste is what is called a ‘universal service’ – pretty much every person living in the Borough will come into contact with it at some point. It also has a big impact. It affects our day-to-day lives, but what we do with it and where it goes significantly affects our wider environment.
The Conservatives in Wokingham Borough recognise this, which is why we have made it a priority to review our waste policies since we became the Council’s Opposition. We wish to increase recycling and reduce the amount of waste that individuals and families throw away in the blue bags. We have a clear guiding principle to achieve this: you should be given more opportunities to recycle without being forced to cut the amount you throw away. Why? Because there are some homes, like families with small children, where it is difficult to minimise how much you throw away.
When the Conservatives were in charge of the Council, we brought in more recycling options and increased the rate of recycling. We expanded the range of plastics recycled, while ensuring this was properly recycled and not sent overseas simply to be disposed of. We introduced the food waste recycling which has been taken up by many residents and has saved us as local taxpayers around £500,000 per year in disposal costs, by diverting food waste from landfill to anaerobic digestion. We also increased the number of glass banks to collect a larger quantity of glass for recycling.
There is more the Council can do in these areas offering environmentally sound and cost effective recycling routes which are attractive enough that our residents will choose to adopt. We will only increase the amount we recycle if we carry the community with us.
During the time we were in charge of the Council we maintained weekly waste collections, one of the few councils that was willing to do so. We didn’t believe it’s right to leave people with rubbish piled up in their home, waiting a fortnight or longer for it to be taken away. This penalises families who can’t cut down on waste, where others have the option to do so. Less frequent waste collections are also usually associated with a move to wheelie bins. This would not be a good option for those in properties with nowhere to store them and could turn parts of our Borough into a wheely bin eyesore like parts of Reading.
A few weeks ago, I asked the Executive Member for Environment if the Council’s Liberal Democrat-led coalition administration would commit to keeping weekly bin collection. Sadly, all I got in reply was waffle. When I asked if residents expressed a clear desire for weekly collection in a consultation planned by the Council, the coalition administration would only commit to reviewing the results and “acting” – not, we noticed, to implement what the residents tell them to do.
Where the coalition administration attempts to muddy the waters, the Conservatives are clear: if the local community wants to keep weekly bin collection, then the Council should maintain it.
Cllr Norman Jorgensen is the Shadow Executive Member for Environment and Leisure, and Conservative councillor for Maiden Erlegh
