Question

In the recent election it has been claimed that the main opposition party will commit to collection of glass recycling regardless of cost. Can you confirm the figures of looking into this proposal?

In the recent election it has been claimed that the main opposition party will commit to collection of glass recycling regardless of cost. Can you confirm the figures of looking into this proposal?

Answer:

Thank you for your question Guy and the opportunity you give me to further support our provision of glass recycling.

There are two ways to collect glass at the kerbside.  The first is to use a completely separate vehicle and collect the mixed glass.  This would be more convenient for residents but would cost the Council around £600,000 per annum to provide the service and the glass would not be recycled as glass but as mixed glass which can only be used for building and road foundations.

The second way would be to collect it in the black boxes together with the other recycling materials (often referred to as co-mingling).  Although the actual collection costs would be minimal, again the mixed glass can only be reused for road and building foundations and not recycled, but in addition it would risk sustainable markets for paper and card due to the high risk of contamination and there would be significant capital costs to remodel the sorting machinery at Smallmead, something Wokingham would have to pay for unless Bracknell Forest and Reading also wanted to have this separation facility.

We have 39 Bring Banks and two household waste recycling centres which collected approximately 3,000 tonnes of glass in the last year.  That is from our Borough.  We accept that we need to do more to increase the collection of glass for recycling and we are working on additional sites, especially on new developments, to make it easier for our residents to access and use them.  All glass collected in this scheme is recycled into new green, clear and brown glass which also saves around 450 kgs of CO₂ per tonne in energy and saves valuable resources.

So, we believe the majority of collectable household glass is recycled because residents are prepared to take them to our Bring Banks.  So why spend £600k to collect glass that cannot be recycled as glass – a very short-sighted approach by our opposition?

Supplementary Question:

I agree with your comments on the short sightedness.  By my quick calculations that is a 1% increase in council tax on its own before any fines due to contamination etc and we cannot even recycle the glass it seems; so not very green.  When doing the Budget there are more important areas to consider such as Social Care.  You mentioned that there are currently 39 Bottle Banks, as I call them, in the Borough.  Could you let me know how many more the Borough Council is looking to bring online and if there are any for Earley?

Supplementary Answer:

I agree it is short sighted to put forward the kerbside collection idea knowing the very successful arrangements we have in place for our collections and operating our recycling centres and the financial implications.  As for new Bring Banks they will primarily be in areas of new development which Earley is not experiencing.  However, if local residents can suggest possible new sites in Earley we will definitely investigate to see whether they are suitable and possible.  We have to take account of the safe parking areas, noise to nearby residents and proximity to other Bring Banks amongst other things.