THE FIRST round of consultation on the borough’s waste strategy of the future is “the most subscribed consultation we’ve ever had”.
Council leader John Halsall has welcomed residents’ views and is hoping more will come forward before it closes at the end of the week.
The consultation looks at four areas: recycling rates, waste minimisation, resident satisfaction and cost.
Every household and business in the borough relies on the council’s arrangements for waste, and its existing contracts – with Veoila for doorstep collections, and re3 for recycling and waste processing – will be up for renewal over the next few years.
“We have to decide what we are going to do, and some of the paradigms of the past are not where you want to end up with now,” he said.
“Residents have blue bags, food waste and recycling green bags. If you’re using food waste collection, then your blue bags are completely clean. So we’re getting to the situation where we can re-examine the paradigms.”
This includes the re3 contract which is shared with Reading Borough and Bracknell Forest councils. Cllr Halsall questions the value of the contract and the amount Wokingham Borough Council pays into it, as well as how re3 processes Wokingham’s waste.
“Those are the sort of questions we need to answer,” he said.
“But the more fundamental question is how we can influence the volume of waste. If you look at your waste, most of it is packaging. There’s big decisions to be made in terms of climate change.”
To take part in the strategy, log on to engage.wokingham.gov.uk
