The Council is tackling the challenge of re-organising the way in which waste is collected across the district. 77,000 collections…fives days during the week…up to four types of waste per household to be collected on the same day – those are the numbers facing the team developing the five new collection day zones that will operate from June 8th 2009.

In the run-up to when residents learn about when their new waste collection day will be, the Council is carrying out a complex analysis of local road and waste infrastructure. This will generate five different collection zones across the district which will eventually result in one new waste collection day for residents. The Council is using state-of-the-art software to develop the most efficient routes and zones possible by:

Identifying busy roads and adding extra time for collections, roads with height and weight restrictions;
Identifying streets with restricted access;
Taking into account the location of waste depots;
Taking into account properties surrounding schools to ensure collections are scheduled to avoid the start and finish of the school day;
Using information on the weights of waste for each different type, and mileages covered and fuel consumed by vehicles.

The Council is trying to get the waste day change right for local residents. This work is underway. All sorts of different issues must be taken into account when developing the new zones so that each day of collection is correctly resourced, and waste is collected on the day the Council says it will be. The scale of this task should not be underestimated. As a result of this process, a notice will be sent to every household to let residents know their new day two weeks before the start date.

Residents can find out more about the waste day change by going to www.bathnes.gov.uk/wastedaychange

The next stage of the project includes:

Preparation of routes for all material streams including a full review with frontline staff;
Route editing and review with an office based ‘drive through’ of routes with individual drivers and collection crews;
Production of the final route maps and lists.

The Council recently announced that the waste collection day of households will be changing, and that the four streams of waste currently collected will be changing the waste collection day for households throughout the district from 8th June 2009. Households will put out refuse, the green recycling box, cardboard and garden waste on the same day – although the cardboard and garden waste will remain fortnightly.