Recycling success hits fuel costs

3:07pm Thursday 7th February 2008

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The amount of fuel being used by Oxford City Council's bin and recycling lorries has risen by a third since the introduction of fortnightly waste collection.

Former Labour county councillor John Power used the Freedom of Information Act to find out the amount used before and after the introduction of the fortnightly waste collection scheme in November 2006.

The scheme, which introduced wheelie bins across the city, brought a big increase in the recycling rate, from 24 per cent to 40 per cent in parts of Oxford.

But, according to new figures, the council is paying for its success because it is having to spend 32 per cent more on diesel fuel - because of frequent trips to a Milton Keynes centre where rubbish is recycled.

Mr Power said the council was spending a third more on fuel - not helped by the general rise in fuel costs.

"There is a cost consideration as well as the pollution to consider. I think this is a clear indication that the council should return to weekly collections.

"The council is burning up more fuel just to get a better recycling rate and that must be adding to the carbon footprint in a congested city like Oxford."

According to John Evans, the council's information rights manager, figures recorded for the council's core refuse fleet show that in 2005, from May to December, bin lorries and recycling lorries used 143,815.52 litres of fuel.

In the same period in 2007, the lorries used 190,273.03 litres, an increase of 46,458 litres.

Jean Fooks, executive member for a cleaner city, said council vehicles had made trips to Milton Keynes since the fortnightly collection was introduced to dispose of cans, plastic bottles, cardboard and low-grade paper.

Newspapers collected in green boxes are transported to Kent.

Ms Fooks added: "The increased use of fuel is more than offset by the reduction in what we are sending to landfill.

"Our blue box recyclables are taken to a state-of-the-art materials recycling facility at Milton Keynes, where it is sorted and sold on as a raw material.

"We are looking to find a nearer outlet to reduce mileage and carbon emissions.

"Reducing the tonnage sent to landfill is reducing emissions of potent greenhouse gases.

"Composting garden waste for use on agricultural land instead of sending it to landfill reduces our contribution to climate change."

The county council is currently deciding where to put an incinerator to deal with the county's non-recycable waste.

Green city councillor Craig Simmons said: "The amount of carbon dioxide emitted from the fuel is trivial compared to the amount saved by not having to manufacture new materials."

Andrew Wood, a spokesman for Oxford Friends of the Earth, added: "The council could reduce its fuel bill by creating its own sorting facility for mixed waste somewhere in the county."