City and County of Swansea Recycling and food

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City and County of Swansea: Recycling and food collections for flats Collection arrangements for

City and County of Swansea: Recycling and food collections for flats Collection arrangements for dry recycling and food waste from flats Background The City and County of Swansea has had kerbside dry recycling collections throughout the County since 2004. A food waste collection scheme was initially introduced for kerbside properties in 2006 and expanded to all kerbside properties in the County in 2009. From 2009 an increasing number of enquiries from residents and management companies regarding recycling and food waste collections for flats were occurring. It became apparent that more information was needed about what flats existed in Swansea, who managed them, and what options they had to recycle. In March 2010 an inventory of all flats in the County was undertaken to assess refuse and recycling arrangements. Following this assessment a dry recyclables and food waste collection service was launched in March 2011 Photo of Abernethy Square, Swansea Maritime Quarter. Background Demographics The population of the City and County of Swansea currently stands at 231, 300; the third highest of the 22 Welsh Unitary Authorities, and almost 8% of the total population of Wales (2, 999, 300). The County has an overall population density of 612 people per sq km. 2007 estimates suggest that Swansea has an ethnic minority population of 7, 600 (3. 3% of all people), slightly above the Welsh average (2. 9%). Swansea has an above average share of its Lower Super Output Area (LSOAs) featuring in the top 10% most deprived in Wales, with 17 (12%) of its 147 LSOAs now ranked in the top 190 (10%) most deprived. According to 2001 Census data, around 10% of Swansea’s households are within purpose built blocks of flats. forward Dry recycling Food waste Comms Performance and future changes Case Study page 1

City and County of Swansea: Recycling and food waste collections for flats Schemes for

City and County of Swansea: Recycling and food waste collections for flats Schemes for the collection of dry recyclables from flats The Council recognises that each block of flats is different, so provide four different recycling collection schemes to cater for differences in building types. Each scheme collects three streams of materials: mixed paper and card, mixed plastics and mixed cans and glass. The triple bank 1. The ‘triple bank’ scheme tends to be used at high rise blocks or blocks where the drop back bins are unsuitable (pictured top). Residents are provided with a re-usable hessian bag to transport recyclables to the bank. 2. In blocks where space allows and where there are no refuse storage facilities currently, purpose built recycling stations are created in close proximity to the blocks. The recycling stations have a hardstand platform with 1100 litre bins for general refuse and dry recycling and 240 litre housed bins for food waste. 3. Where blocks of flats have suitable space in communal refuse bin stores 770 litre or 1100 litre drop back recycling bins are located in these stores (pictured bottom). Residents are provided with green and pink single use bags to transport their recycling in. The colours of the bags coordinate with the recycling bins e. g. pink bags are put in the pink bin for plastic bottles. The recycling is manually emptied from the dropped back of the bins into either a split bodied or caged vehicle. The drop back bin 4. In blocks where recycling bins won’t fit, or access issues prevent bins from being used, single use recycling bags are stored loose within the bin compound or storage area. In some blocks of flats management companies have provided contained areas within the bin store for recycling bags. back : forward Dry recycling Background Food waste Comms Performance and future changes Case Study page 2

City and County of Swansea: Recycling and food waste collections for flats Schemes for

City and County of Swansea: Recycling and food waste collections for flats Schemes for the collection of food waste from flats As with the dry recycling collections, the Council manages three different types of collection scheme for food waste so that an appropriate service can be provided depending on the building type : A recycling station including a communal food waste bin 1. In large blocks of flats a communal food recycling service is offered. Residents are provided with a 5 litre caddy to store their food waste within the kitchen. Externally, a 240 litre bin contained within a metal housing is provided as the communal food waste bin (pictured top). The bin is located in the bin store or within a purpose built recycling station. 2. In smaller blocks of flats or blocks where only a small number of residents want to participate, each household is provided with a 5 litre caddy for use in the kitchen and a 25 litre caddy for use externally (pictured bottom). The 25 litre caddies tend to be stored in the bin store with residents transporting their food waste using the small kitchen caddy. The crews access the bin store to empty the 25 litre caddies. 3. In some small blocks of flats a communal food waste bin may not be necessary but likewise having individual 25 litre caddies for all residents is impractical due to space restrictions. In these situations blocks have been offered a food waste system where each resident has their own 5 litre kitchen caddy and they then share a number of the 25 litre caddies in the bin store. 5 and 25 litre caddy used for smaller blocks of flats Biodegradable liners for the kitchen caddies are delivered on request to residents free of charge. Supplies of liners may also be provided in communal areas of flats and are available from the Civic Centre and libraries. Split bodied RCVs (70/30 split) are used to collect the food waste weekly from kerbside properties and flats. Food waste is collected on the smaller side with the larger side used to collect garden waste one week and plastic the next. back : forward Food waste Background Dry recycling Comms Performance and future changes Case Study page 3

City and County of Swansea: Recycling and food waste collections for flats Recycling and

City and County of Swansea: Recycling and food waste collections for flats Recycling and food waste communications The Council has employed a variety of communication tools to promote the dry recycling and food waste collection services to residents including: Extract from Swansea’s recycling guide for flats • Door to door canvassing: This was undertaken to launch the new recycling and food waste collection schemes. It was accompanied by delivery of recycling bags, food waste caddies and a letter • A leaflet (pictured): This was pictorial as the Council is aware that a number of foreign students live in flats and to help address literacy difficulties • A 3 laminated posters: These were produced for bin stores and communal areas • Residents meetings: Residents meetings are attended and/or organised to inform residents about the schemes, answer questions and gather feedback. • Website: Information is provided on the website and a street search was compiled to allow the call centres staff to easily identify the scheme provided to each block of flats has • Flats champion: The Council has recently recruited a local resident as a “flats champion”. This resident will feature in communication materials and provide quotes for press releases. To communicate with housing managing organisations, emails and letters were sent prior to the launch of the schemes. Training workshops were run for caretakers to build support for the scheme and help caretakers answer queries from residents. back : forward Comms Background Dry recycling Food waste Performance and future changes Case Study page 4

City and County of Swansea: Recycling and food waste collections for flats Performance monitoring

City and County of Swansea: Recycling and food waste collections for flats Performance monitoring and outcomes In order to assess whether the new collection schemes were having a positive impact on recycling, the Council undertook monitoring of the dry and food waste containers set out over a four week period. All three collection types were included. This was undertaken in two phases for 645 households in total. Key learnings and future plans • Since some blocks of flats have a high turnover of residents, the Council is planning to provide letting agents with information on the recycling and food waste services so that they can give this to new residents. • Some residents are reluctant to recycle due to lack of storage space in their flat. In these instances the Council explains that residents do not The number of black bags, pink bags, green bags and food waste need to wait until a bag is full before putting it in the recycling bin. containers set out each week was recorded for each block. The results showed that: Another solution adopted in some blocks of flats is to have open bags in • Black bags reduced by 31% from an average of 1. 87 to 1. 28 bags per the bin store where residents can take individual recyclable items household per week whenever they need. This has worked well but requires a staff member • Set out rates for green bags (mixed paper and card and mixed cans and or resident to replace the bags when full. glass) were 40% following the improvements made to recycling • Set out rates for pink bags (plastic bottles) were 28% following the • There was some initial reluctance to using the food waste caddy as improvements made to recycling residents thought that it would be unhygienic and smelly. To combat • Set out rates for food waste were 40% this perception the Council explains that it is actually cleaner as the food The Council also undertook a residents survey in three blocks of flats one waste is not being mixed with other waste in their kitchen bin, and they month after a trial communal food waste scheme had been launched. can empty their caddy on a daily basis if they want. Questionnaires were distributed and residents returned them via a drop box in the entrance hall to the block. Key outcomes were: • 67% of residents said they always used the scheme with a further 14% • There have been some issues with contamination, in particular of plastic bags in the communal food waste bins. The Council has placed signs on saying they sometimes used it the lid of the bins that explains “no plastic bags” and where people can • 61% felt well informed about the scheme • 82% would recommend the scheme for other blocks of flats obtain the free food waste caddy liners. These had an immediate effect with the amount of plastics in the food waste greatly reduced. The main comment for improvement was to provide a supply of the caddy liners for the communal bins. The Council has attempted to provide this whenever installing the communal food waste bins. Background Dry recycling Food waste Comms Performance and future changes back : forward Case Study page 5

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