In the face of responses from over 5,000 Denbighshire residents, the Welsh Assembly Government has reversed plans to make the Council ditch its extremely successful Blue Bin recycling service.
In its report published today, Assembly officials said that 4,237 individual responses were received in response to a suggestion that Councils with recycling services different to that suggested could receive cuts in their funding. It reports that, “The majority of these responses originated from a single Local Authority”.
In addition to these individual responses, the Assembly also received a further 16 petitions comprising 1,173 signatures.
The report went on to say that just 14 of the 4,237 responses favoured the Assembly position, but it did not indicate whether these responses were from Denbighshire residents, or not.
A Denbighshire County Council spokesman said: “Thousands of Denbighshire residents contacted the Assembly to say exactly how highly they rated the Council’s recycling scheme. We wish to thank every single person who wrote, telephoned or e-mailed the Assembly in support of the Council’s approach. We hope they are as pleased as we are that their recycling service is safe. It is to their credit that Assembly officials have taken notice of this overwhelming show of public support.”
Denbighshire County Council reported the highest recycling rate of all Welsh Councils in 2009/10 with a rate that was recently revised upwards to 52%. A recycling trade journal reported recently that Denbighshire had the third lowest levels of residual household waste (waste that is not recycled) out of more than 400 United Kingdom Local Authorities.
Coming to the end of this financial year the recycling rate in Denbighshire has increased to around 55%, which could quite possibly make residents the best recyclers in Wales for a second time. With extensions of the x2 service planned for 2011, it is possible that recycling rates could peak at over 60% during the summer.
You can view the Welsh Assembly Government’s Response to, and Analysis of, the Consultation of the Draft Municipal Sector Plan Part 1 at http://wales.gov.uk/docs/desh/consultation/110310municipalwasteresponseen.pdf
