Cardiff County Council have released a report entitled ÔÇÿThe Future of Waste and Recycling ÔÇô a 2025 vision of CardiffÔÇÖ which outlines the proposed long term strategies aimed at improving waste collection services, sparking a great deal of controversy concerning the impact upon Cardiff students.
The consultation, which can be viewed online, states that the government has set statutory targets from 2013 onwards pushing for 70% recycling by 2025, an 18% increase on the current rate. Alongside this, they aim to reduce their current budget by £125m over the next three years.
In order to achieve these targets the Welsh Government has proposed a number of changes to the current waste and recycling schemes. In terms of collection methods the government has offered a number of alternatives, favouring the introduction of ÔÇÿkerbside sortÔÇÖ, where residences are required to separate their recycling into different boxes, reducing the cost of processing at a later stage. Two variations of the scheme are outlined in the consultation, proposing either separate stand-alone boxes or a ÔÇÿbox stackerÔÇÖ, where boxes are arranged on a trolley, ÔÇÿjust liked a wheeled binÔÇÖ.
The current co-mingled green bag scheme has been operated in Cardiff for over twenty years. Currently green bags are available free of charge from a number of outlets. However, the government has expressed concerns that this scheme is open to abuse, with many people using the bags for other things. As a result they have proposed that properties be provided with a specific number of bags, with any additional bags available at cost.  It has also been suggested that bags be provided through annual or quarterly deliveries to properties or via a ring and request service.
With regard to general waste the report suggests implementing a limit on the number of black bags per household allowed for collection, as well as potentially reducing the size of wheeled bins in bin areas. The possibility of replacing black bags with clear bags has also been put forward following recent research which has shown that this encourages people to recycle more and limit what they throw away, as items in the bag can be clearly seen.
CardiffÔÇÖs move from weekly to fortnightly general waste collections in 2011 sparked a great deal of controversy, receiving mixed views. Yet plans have been put forward to extend this to monthly collections, upon the belief that there should be little or no waste that cannot be recycling and needs to be thrown away. The alternative is a ÔÇÿpay as you throwÔÇÖ scheme, charging people according to how much they throw away. As things stand, no charge could be introduced without a change in national legislation. Currently, waste collection and disposable is funded by council tax. As students are exempt from paying council tax, it is unclear as to whether or not students would be required to pay the additional charges.
The disposal of green waste could also be subject to charges, following arguments that it is ÔÇÿnot a true household waste and should be dealt with differentlyÔÇÖ. Unlike general waste, under the current legal definition green waste is listed as one of the waste streams which councils may charge to collect, a system which has been expressed favourably by the Welsh Government.
In the report, Councillor Govier, the Cabinet Member for Environment openly invites public participation, through the online response survey, stating: ÔÇÿto better inform the case I make, I need to know your thoughts on the waste and recycling prioritiesÔÇÖ.
In response to these policies the Cardiff University StudentsÔÇÖ Union has produced a letter, reprinted on this page, addressed to Cardiff City Council expressing a number of student-oriented concerns, which it hopes will be accounted for in the further stages of the consultation process.
Helen Dent, Cardiff UniversityÔÇÖs Vice President for Welfare, encourages student involvement, stating: ÔÇ£Although it is positive that Cardiff Council are taking measures to increase recycling some of the proposals, as shown in the open letter, are not suitable for densely populated student areas. ItÔÇÖs unfortunate that the online survey of the consultation is very long but I would encourage all residents of Cardiff to fill it out because it will have a big impact on how you manage your waste and recycling in the futureÔÇØ.
ÔÇ£If you would like to take part in focus groups to give your feedback on the consultation please email vpwelfare@cardiff.ac.ukÔÇØ.
The online survey of the consultation can be found at: www.surveys.cardiff.gov.uk/wasteconsultation/.
Cardiff Council
Country Hall
Atlantic Wharf
Cardiff
CF20 4UW
Thursday 24th October 2013
Dear Cardiff City Council
Re: The Future of Waste & Recycling ÔÇô a 2025 vision for Cardiff
Cardiff University StudentsÔÇÖ Union is committed to sustainability and we support the aim of the Welsh government to increase recycling. As the representative body for the 28,000 + students at Cardiff University, we are responding to your proposals for recycling options for the city. In our view, some of the proposals in the ÔÇÿFuture of Waste and Recycling SummaryÔÇÖ will disproportionately impact on students and we have detailed our concerns below. We hope that you will take our concerns into account when proceeding with the waste and recycling plan for Cardiff.
Our concerns are as follows:
1. The consultation and survey
We are greatly concerned that the survey does not actively encourage residents to give their feedback on your proposals. The constant need to refer back to a separate document as well as the high number of questions makes it a very time consuming process. However, we will hold focus groups with students who are interested in this consultation to ensure that the views of our students are fairly represented.
2. Pay as you throw (section 5D(f))
We believe that because students are already recognised as exempt from council tax due to their student status, that students should be exempt from being charged for their waste.
3. Options for household waste and recycling collections (section 4)
The StudentsÔÇÖ Union actively campaigns on green issues and we support your collection options which encourage residents to sort their recycling before the waste is collected. However, we believe that there would not be enough space in front of terraced student houses to accommodate a ÔÇÿkerbside sot box stackerÔÇÖ (option b) and it would be difficult to store.
We would like confirmation that if the ÔÇÿkerbside sort box stackerÔÇÖ (option b) or the box for glass (option d) is implemented, that the council will provide these free of charge. If the Council requires that they should be purchased by households, then landlords should bear this cost because the vast majority of students who rent in the private sector only stay in the property for a maximum of 2 years.
4. Limit the number of black bags that can be put out per household on the day of the collection (proposal 5(a)) and to reduce the size of wheeled bins (proposal 5(b))
If implemented, the number of black bags should be relative to the size of the household given that some students live in large HMOs of up to 12 students. Yet we have two concerns.
First, we believe that it will cause tensions in the community if any resident, including students, rightly or wrongly accuse their neighbour of putting their excess black bins bags outside of their neighbourÔÇÖs house or into their neighbourÔÇÖs wheeled bins. Therefore, if this is implemented we would like further information as to how this would be monitored to ensure that residents are not unnecessarily penalised.
Second, if residents exceed their allocated amount of black bins bags or overfill their wheeled  bin, the uncollected rubbish will bring more vermin to the area. Student houses are particularly vulnerable to this because of the nature of dense and often low quality housing. It is important to note that although the food waste will continue to be collected separately, it is likely that black bin bag waste will carry some food residue which means that vermin will continue to be attracted to it.
5. 3-4 Weekly collections of black bin bags (option 5(e))
We strongly feel that this is inappropriate in student areas with high and dense populations. It would be difficult for students to manage up to a month of uncollected waste, particularly for students who live in large HMOs. The excess rubbish would increase vermin in the area and bags left for long periods are frequently torn apart and rubbish strewn across the road.
Georgia Hamer
News Editor
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