Memorandum by Alex Smiles Ltd (RC 16)
COLLECTION METHODS
The problem with waste collection as it stands
is the contamination of waste which is recyclable with waste which
is not. Specifically, waste coming for recycling contaminated
with kitchen waste, nappies and putrescible smelly waste renders
the whole of the load non-recyclable as no-one wants to pick through
and find the materials which are clean from the whole host of
materials which are dirty. As such, the strategy of larger household
waste bins and small recycling boxes should be reversed:
— Larger—mechanical tipped bins
should be designated for segregated recyclable material.
— Smaller material specific bins—kitchen
waste/nappies, food contaminated packaging waste, batteries, clinical
household waste, etc should be classified in separate smaller
containers so that these do not commingle (mix and cross-contaminate
in the back of the vehicle) with the recyclable materials. (possible
subsidy on the recycling of materials such as this at home via
a sink shredder to go as waste or a tax on disposable nappies,
so that the waste doesn't go into the municipal recyclable waste
stream).
As such this would allow the clean materials
to be segregated even after they have been mixed and compressed
in the back of a refuse collection vehicle, tipped onto a picking
line and further continue recycling efforts.
Recycling and segregation at the vehicle roadside
This limits the weight of materials per bin
to be collected (a person can't/won't lift it) and cause difficulty
with the lifting of bins and recycling generally, which mechanical
aids such as bin lifts have all been used to get away from.
Recycling and segregation at the customer premises—separate
container each for glass paper, card, metal, plastics
This would significantly reduce the cost of
labour to do recycling and materials segregation. as such you
would hopefully see a reduction in cost. This would facilitate
a simpler strategy of collecting the materials and keeping them
separate from one another, however it would be difficult to have
a vehicle with enough compartments for each of the different materials
and grades to effect sort once, bulk up and ship out. (again will
require picking lines and segregation of product types to achieve
recycling because mixed materials attract lower prices (priced
to reflect the cost of labour of sorting materials once they arrive
at the other end).
Recycling Infrastructure/Investment/Education:
smaller recycling centres/CA sites with more frequent collections
Use of small recycling centres where appropriate
materials are classified in larger containers would allow:
(1) the householder to understand the difference
of the different materials and group accordingly;
(2) feel good factor—I am recycling/carbon
neutral/get recycling credits/rebate;
(3) reduce labour costs of the recycling
companies/councils (and so costs to council/government/householders);
(4) increase the no of grades of the material
collected, (quality goes up, as will the price paid for it, but
this depends on the policing of the quality of the material input);
(5) get an economy of scale in terms of clean
material, so that where larger processing centres and material
streams exist, the recycler can then start to supply materials
direct back to manufacturers who will re-use it without use of
brokers (who will need to be paid);
(6) get small scale manufacturers to make
use of the material streams as they exist so that the segregation
of material becomes less onerous on either customer, recycler
or council; and
(7) colour coding—we have worked with
colour coding for recycling of materials for construction companies,
however they have insisted that the Institute of Civil Engineers'
Scheme for coding and Construction aware Scotland is used rather
than Wrap Logo's and colours. If we are to educate consumers/customers,
a recycling scheme must operate at a higher level ie Europe wide/globally
assigned colours so that when you go somewhere you are taught
what to do. It must be simple and effective and easy to do. I
don't care if we use WRAP or SEPA/ICE logos and colours, but there
must be a decision made which.
Recycling technology
Each material for sale needs to conform to an
appropriate standard for re-use and be easy to segregate. Paying
for what you use (by weight) is the only real way to ensure that
people who over produce will also be the people who pay most,
however these people may also fall into the target groups who
politicians want to protect. There may also be an effect of people
taking waste to work/fly tipping to reduce costs to themselves/their
household so the security of bins will have to be addressed (locks,
secure storage of bins as part of planning approval of new developments).
Segregation/processing/commercial methods on
offer generally are:
(1) shred and then trammel (screen)—reduces
weight by taking heavy materials ie soil out of the mixed municipal
waste stream, reducing landfill cost to the consumer, however
it shouldn't really be in there anyway.
(2) picking belts—someone has to stand/sit/pick
at materials, separate them into containers or onto stockpiles
for baling/processing. (only waste which will be paid for will
be removed).
(3) source segregation on site/cost—the
person disposing of the material can use alternative washable/reusable
packaging (so it doesn't become waste), or segregate material
types.
We offer discounted skip prices for material
specific skips, why not the same for appropriately classified
materials on the kerb-side?
You could offer householders: we will weigh
household waste and the recycling materials, then charge for the
household waste but not for the recycling, or even credit them
for recyclable materials.
People may swap bins or fill one another's bins
if the costs become too high, or steal recyclable materials for
"my bill" to bill balance.
Reduced frequency of services/AWC's
If recycled materials or bin waste goes to alternate
weekly collections, then the volume of material able to be moved
per week will halve, causing some people to change behaviour,
others will reduce the efficiency of collections by depositing
waste by bins so more collection workers will be required and
more lifting/lugging of material will be needed instead of the
mechanical bin lifts on vehicles.
Speed of material processing at transfer stations/storage
on the roadside/in the house: at home a bin bag may sit for one
week getting filled, miss collection and sit in the bin for a
further week, get collected, get mixed in the vehicle and sit
at a transfer station prior to processing/onward movement for
a further two weeks depending on the pile, methods of processing
and efficiency of the operation.
The smell of waste which has heated and cooled
over summer months going to transfer stations will smell more
as the waste composts in a transfer station, storage timescales
will have to go down (at transfer stations) as the material smells
more surrounding residents will complain more, causing problems
for councillors, politicians, planners etc. more, smaller, local
transfer stations will be required, closer to the residents as
diesel and wages go up and pressure for cost cutting mount, these
may then introduce distribution-type centres where material then
is transferred to be processed—high throughput incinerators,
processing plants with good road links for onward transport.
General solutions to the smell problems will
be:
— drying of materials to drive off
moisture and so stop fermentation;
— or removing kitchen waste/sources
of water/putricible materials;
— or moving it into a vessel where
it is treated or disposed of once and for all;
— or landfill or processing (compost?);
— or washing the material completely?;
and
— or separate from smelly stuff in
the first place.
Ownership/Accountability
If you are not accountable for the production,
you will not do anything about it. In the case of multi-tenant
occupancy, there needs to be a method of making waste as easy
to segregate as possible in the home so that there is a lack of
contamination further down the line. It must also be considered
that we live in a disposable society, and people have not been
educated to maintain items. Until something is done about the
design of products for maintenance and reverse logistics to get
the product back to the originator for refurbishment or replacement,
waste will be a fact of life. There are two stark choices here—waste
or maintain.
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