Recycling And Waste Collections

Major changes to the way recycling and waste are collected for homes across the area are set to help Dover District recycle even more and reduce costs for the future - and are being considered by a special joint Cabinet meeting on 13 October.

Dover and Shepway District Councils and Kent County Council are finalising arrangements for a new joint recycling and waste contract. This innovative partnership will help to ensure that the costs of recycling, waste collection and disposal, and street cleansing services across the two districts are as low as possible.

Dover and Shepway District Councils' joint Cabinet meeting is being held at Shepway District Council offices on 13 October to make a key decision on the contract.

Subject to approval by all three Cabinets, the service is set to see the introduction of a separate weekly collection of food waste, together with the provision of new containers by the Council for the collection of householders' recycling and waste. This is set to include the use of wheeled bins wherever possible for the collection of a range of recyclables, and a fortnightly collection of waste that can not be recycled, with all areas to be assessed for the suitability of wheeled bins in partnership with a new contractor.

Although the new contract is set to start in January, changes in the service are not likely to start until later in 2011. Full details will be given to customers as new services are rolled out, and collections will continue as they currently are in the meantime.

Progress on the new contract follows a questionnaire on the future direction of the service carried out from March to June this year, to which more than 2,000 responses were received from across Dover and Shepway Districts. Two workshops were also held last month in Dover District and two in Shepway to further engage with residents.

Cllr Nicholas Kenton, DDC Cabinet Member for Environment, Waste and Planning said: "We are very pleased to be moving forward with this exciting new service, which will help us to protect resources and make dramatic improvements to the amounts we recycle. This important partnership working means we can keep our costs as low as possible, while helping us all to work together to recycle more and protect the environment for the future."