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Response by the Cabinet Member: Dear Cllr Beverley, Thank you for your question regarding the upcoming changes to the waste and recycling collections for households across Powys. The optimisation of our collection routes is a process that needs to be carried out periodically to ensure that we maximise the efficiency and effectiveness of our fleet of vehicles and operational staff as well as providing the best possible service to our residents. There have been a number of changes since this exercise was last carried out in 2018, including new properties being built, changes to vehicles used, and different tipping locations. There has also been a change in consumption habits with the amount of the different waste and recycling streams changing. With more residents recycling, there is less waste on the residual vehicles and more on the recycling vehicles, which is of course great for our recycling rate, but does affect how quickly vehicles are filled. The amount of each type of recyclable material has also changed over time, with more plastics and cans and less glass for example. It is very difficult to provide a full breakdown of the cost savings when implementing new routes as there are so many factors involved and these changes would have to be made anyway to adapt to changing circumstances. As part of this optimisation process, we have been reviewing our vehicle requirements to try to build more resilience into the fleet. This should result in less downtime for vehicle breakdowns and servicing which will improve the service that we provide to residents. There will inevitably be some issues with rolling out new collection routes both for the crews and residents, so we do ask for some patience and understanding during the first few weeks, but it should very quickly settle down with residents seeing an improved service. With regards to the letter and booklet that has been distributed to all households, the Council is regularly criticised for not communicating enough when changes are made to services. With a change such as this which affects all households, it is essential that we do reach and inform every property. Whilst many people do now get their information via digital means, there are still very many that rely on information being directly delivered to them. We do regularly get asked why we don’t provide more communications through the door for residents. Whilst Powys does perform well in terms of the amount we recycle, we do still need to improve the amount and quality of recycling that we collect from the kerbside, so this is an ideal opportunity to remind residents of how they can help us to achieve that. Like all local authorities in Wales, we work very closely with the Welsh Government, and we were offered funding and support for the letter, booklet and distribution. The booklet was produced by WRAP (Waste and resources Action Programme) Cymru, at an overall cost of £75,000 including the design, translation, print and postage. There was no cost to the Council as it was part of the Welsh Government’s collaborative change programme. WRAP Cymru have worked with several other authorities on a similar basis, and it was fortunate that we could combine this with the letter informing residents of the collection day changes. We do appreciate that there might be a perception that we are wasting Council Taxpayers money providing this booklet when there are so many demands on the Council’s budget. Hopefully, we have now clarified the situation and residents have a clear, handy guide to what they can and cannot recycle. If residents feel that they don’t need the guide as they are already recycling as much as they can, they can always put it in the blue box and we will collect it.
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