Dartford families to be given smaller bins... at a cost of £700k
by Lizzie Massey
More than £700,000 is set to be spent on giving the people
of Dartford smaller bins.
Dartford council has been offered a government grant of more
than £1.7milllion and part of that cash will go on replacing the
existing 240 litre bins with smaller 180 litre ones.
The scheme is designed to encourage people to recycle more and
compost garden waste, rather than filling up their general rubbish
bins.
Cllr Jeremy Kite (Con), leader of Dartford council, told a
cabinet meeting: “I don’t see this as the council forcing residents
to recycle; I believe that the people of Dartford are already doing
it and the council is fulfilling a need.”
Residents are
being asked for their views before the project is finalised, but
councillors are expecting most people to welcome the idea.
The council was offered the grant in November 2012 to improve
the borough’s recycling rates.
Figures released by the Department for Environment, Food and
Rural Affairs showed that Dartford was way below the national
average of 43%, at just 26%.
The council is expecting recycling to increase to 32% by
replacing the general rubbish bins.
The bulk of the money, more than £900,000, will ensure weekly
collections continue until 2015.
To receive the grant from the Department for Communities and
Local Government’s Weekly Collection Support Scheme, the council
also had to guarantee it would keep weekly refuse collections in
the borough until at least 2017. Currently, recycling is collected
once a fortnight.
Cllr Kite said: “We feel that weekly bin collections are a basic
right and will work to preserve that in Dartford, while other
councils go to fortnightly collections.”
The remaining money, more than £183,000, will be spent on
employing a recycling promotions officer for two years and paying
to promote the scheme.
The new bins are expected to be delivered, and the old ones
removed, between May and August – but not before the public has had
their say.
For more information – and to cast your vote – visit
www.dartford.gov.uk/bigbinvote. Completed surveys must be submitted
by noon on Thursday.
13/03/13