6 Boroughs join North Dorset for new Waste Service

Last year we reported on a presentation given at the DT11 Forum Partnership's meeting by the Dorset Waste Partnership. The focus was on the disparate nature of the waste services across Dorset which varied in size and scope, and had different providers and different facilities in various areas. In fact, there were 12 different systems across the county resulting in a huge inconsistency in service and a lot of wasted cash.

Last week, Weymouth and Portland Borough Council became the seventh and final council to sign up to a new service designed by the Dorset Waste Partnership to standardise the service and start saving money.

The new service will be introduced in phases across the county starting this autumn, and due to be in all boroughs by 2014/15.

The new service provides the followign as standard:

A weekly food wast collection service using a kitchen caddy and a larger, lockable container for keeping outside.

A fortnightly recycling collection for paper and card, plastics, glass and batteries using a large wheelie bin and a small box similar to the current recycling box.

A fortnightly refuse collection using a smaller wheelie bin for waste that cannot be recycled.

Households can also have a fortnightly garden waste collection if they want, but it will cost an extra £35 a year for another big wheelie bin.

Although Dorset is already one of the best counties in the country for recycling, the council still paid £4million in landfill tax last year and the DWP hopes the new service, as well as being cheaper to run, will save money on landfill tax too.