Issue - meetings

1.     Question from Mr Craig Storey to Cabinet Member for Waste, Recycling and Public Realm, Councillor Izaac Tailford  

Could you tell what the tonnage (or similar) is per recycled type that is recycled on a weekly or monthly basis. That I presume tells us what the top three items are by weight, and also what will need to be found another home for recycling. I imagine the figures will be fairly high so what is the expected impact on other sites that will have to take this extra recycling. And if those figures are high surely its your duty to keep the site open.

Member response:

I am pleased to respond to your question which raises some helpful points about our decision to implement a prolonged closure of the site.

We know from figures reported for the last full financial year which was 2023/24 that a lot more residual waste (rubbish) than recycling is taken to the HRC – approximately 3,983 tonnes of residual waste per year compared to 834 tonnes of recycling.   910 tonnes of garden waste is also being taken to the HRC.

I am proud of our excellent kerbside waste and recycling services in Cheltenham and we are confident that the additional refuse (rubbish) can be absorbed within our kerbside service – we already pick up about 18,500 tonnes of rubbish each year.  We all need to do our bit with this and try to reduce the amount of waste we are generating for the sake of the planet and our pockets.  We are all part of a throw-away society these days and this has to change.

It would be great if we all recycled everything we could, not just some of it, and this would help improve our recycling rate as we only recycle just under half of what we throw away at present and our government target is to reach 65% by 2035.  I have just signed off on the purchase of a new fleet of recycling vehicles which will be able to cope with future demands for recycling other materials like cartons and flexibles.  These new vehicles have a larger capacity and again we are confident the kerbside service can accommodate extra recycling capacity from residents recycling more even when the HRC at Swindon Road is closed.  Putting recycling in a kerbside box at home is much easier than driving it to Swindon Road or anywhere else for that matter although we do have our bring banks around the town if residents do want to get rid of extra recycling.  Again, the bring banks will be serviced more regularly including the introduction of a Saturday collection to ensure they are able to deal with any additional recycling.

2.     Question from Mr Craig Storey to Cabinet Member for Waste, Recycling and Public Realm, Councillor Izaac Tailford  

What analysis has been done on the reported 1 million pounds required for redevelopment in an attempt to mitigate or reduce those potential costs? A major concern identified is  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7