Waste issues were high on the agenda at the November 2008 B&NES Cabinet meeting when Liberal Democrat questions revealed that the Conservative Cabinet are once again planning to delay their promised introduction of kitchen waste collections and same day collections for refuse and recycling. 

The admission from the Cabinet member for customer services that he is considering delaying same day and kitchen waste collections till 2011 shows that this Administration is not only failing to take waste seriously, but also means that the Conservative promises to the electorate will be broken.  The authority will now be at risk of increasing land fill charges. 

Liberal Democrat plans, which were in place before the 2007 election, would have seen kitchen waste and same day collections introduced by now and our recycling rates would be heading towards 60% by the end of 2009. 

The Cabinet also approved a West of England Partnership paper on sites for waste facilities under the strategic Waste Partnership.  The proposals – all of which include a waste site to be located in Keynsham – are to be put to consultation early next year.  Councillor Paul Crossley (Lib Dem, Southdown) criticised the paper’s lack of recognition for the Council’s zero waste policy but welcomed the consultation on where facilities are to go in the authority. 

Councillor Crossley said that the failure of the WEP waste strategy is the failure to rise to the waste challenge and for our partners to take the wrong route down the incineration path.  The failure of our Council has been our lack of success in convincing our WEP partners to join us in a Zero Waste strategy.