David Heathcote asks the Council Cabinet to bring forward plans for kerbside recycling in Lindley from 2024 to early 2023.
His supplementary question asks for an update on the poor recycling rates and why the figures are not published on the website as promised.
The council provides recycling updates to the Government each quarter, so I was disappointed that Cllr Simpson didn't know the latest figures for his flagship policy.
Lindley residents regularly tell me how important recycling is to them and while we appreciate the logistical issues, the current timescales do not match the Climate Emergency declared by the Council.
I will continue to hold them to account to deliver on their promises. Residents of Lindley deserve better value for money for their rising Council Tax.
Transcript below;
Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Can I just add a tribute to you for your service as Mayor and long service as Councilor and to all those who are standing down. To Peter McBride, Councilor McBride, and Councilor Uppal in particular. My question is around glass recycling. My neighbours in the Lindley Ward and I welcome the council's plans to reintroduce kerbside glass collection, starting with a trial later this year.
Would the Council bring forward the trial of glass collection at kerbside from November to quarter three this year? And could Lindley be included in the trial? And would the Council bring forward the full glass collection at kerbside from the current plans of 2024 to quarter two in 2023?
Councillor Simpson to reply.
Thank you very much David for your question and for waiting so patiently until we got to your public question. We absolutely share your enthusiasm and are really looking forward to delivering on our waste strategy and reintroducing kerbside glass collections in Kirklees. Our timescales as they were outlined in our waste strategy which received cross-party support have had a lot of thought into them to ensure that they align with the Government's legislation and requirements and that we've taken the right level of research and planning and that with this trial within our community and with the trial in our communities to make sure that we'll be able to be sure that the significant investment
is done in the right way. We also need to consider the practical side, such as procuring the vehicles required and the containers which residents will be using, which unfortunately isn't a quick process but we hope to be able to release some further information on the glass collection trial in the summer.
Do you have a supplementary?
I do, thank you, Mr. Mayor. Just on recycling in general, if I may. The Council promised to increase recycling rates from the current low level of 26% in your graph to the national average of 43% by this time. And also on the graph it predicts that, with your waste strategy, that that figure would be 47% of recycling rates by the end of this council year. And I know this has been raised with you before, that if you're going to have a strategy like this with a plan, you need to show the milestones and the tactical steps that you are going to take to get to those rates. So I'd love to see more about those, but the waste strategy also promises to review progress on a quarterly basis and to publish those figures so I'm sure the recycling rates are at the forefront of your mind. So could you provide the last quarter's recycling figure and would you also undertake to, as you promised in the strategy, to publish those figures on the website so that we as residents can see how the Council is doing.
Thank you very much, Mr. Mayor. Thank you for your follow up question, Mr Heathcote. I'm sure you'll be aware that we've already taken a number of steps. We've got a new schools recycling service, we're soon to have a new bulky waste collection service that we're hoping to roll out. We've got our new plastics that are going into our green bins, that's an early delivery on what's in the waste strategy so we're not just delivering to those timescales where we can bring them forward we are doing it and have done there so I'm really looking forward to our residents being able to put plastic pots, tubs and trays into their green bins from the 31st of March onwards. And your support colleagues and David in relaying that to residents in your communities to make sure that we drive up those recycling rates as you as you the aspiration that we share does happen.
I'm sure that we will be, so I don't have the data on me right now. Obviously, with the nature of the supplementary, I wasn't aware that you're going to ask for it so I couldn't prepare to bring it. However, I'm absolutely certain that any commitments we've made around sharing that data, we will be sure to undertake so I'll take that away with me and Councillor Mather who I share some responsibility with on this has heard that as well. So we'll be certain to take that away. But please do colleagues share the good news about the green bins with your residents.
Thank you.
