A complete overhaul of Durham County Council’s waste management arrangements will mean a cleaner, greener service – and potential savings of more than £4m per year.
The results of a three-year programme to completely review the council’s waste collection and disposal arrangements will be presented to the authority’s Cabinet when it meets on Wednesday, 18 September.
As well as the change to alternate weekly collections of waste and recycling, the council has renewed its waste disposal contracts and the operation of its household waste recycling centres.
By increasing recycling and avoiding the disposal of waste to landfill, the changes will mean more environmentally-friendly services and a reduction in landfill tax of another £1m per year.
Cllr Brian Stephens, said: “The council’s waste management strategy was agreed in March 2010 and sets out our targets managing waste more sustainably until 2020.
“During the past three years, we have carried out a great deal of work to re-shape our services in order to make them more cost-effective and environmentally sustainable and have already achieved many of our goals.”
A survey of 1,500 members of the public revealed a high level of understanding among residents of how the authority had managed a very difficult process in implementing the change, with 40 per cent saying it had made a positive difference.