SLDC Cabinet to consider changes to Bulky Household Waste Collections

9 June 2011

At a Cabinet meeting on Wednesday 15 June, South Lakeland District Council will be considering a proposal to employ an external contractor for the collection of bulky household items such as wardrobes, beds, mattresses and chairs. 

Following a full review of the current service the council wants to streamline and improve the way that bulky household items are collected in the future.  The main changes to the service will be the introduction of an appointment system with an option of evening and weekend collections to ensure an improved response time with goods being collected within 7 working days instead of the current 14 days.  The introduction of a charge for all collections is also being recommended.

The new contract would require that items collected are re-used or recycled to reduce waste going to landfill.  At the moment SLDC has no way of recycling this type of waste, which means around 400 tonnes of waste goes to landfill every year.  The council also hopes that the new contract would establish opportunities for people in South Lakeland to develop skills in furniture restoration, repair and domestic appliance repair for re-use, re-sale or that could be given to needy or disadvantaged groups in the district. 

There are around 6,000 bulky waste collections from households across the district every year.  SLDC currently provides the service free of charge, but the council has no appointment system and the bulky waste needs to be left outside.  This can be inconvenient for residents and collections can remain unavailable resulting in wasted journeys and time.    However, customers are also now offered a far greater choice of ways to dispose of large unwanted household items in a safe and environmentally friendly way.  These include Household Waste Recycling Centres, some registered charities and via web based exchange swaps and free cycle forums in addition to the service offered by the local authority.

SLDC’s Assistant Director for Community Services, Simon Rowley, said: “We want to ensure that SLDC is a sustainable council and by working with a local organisation we can provide a much better bulky waste collection service than we can deliver at present.  A majority of the goods are likely to be recycled or refurbished and people are able to choose when they would like their goods collected.  This will reduce vehicle journeys and improve the collection rate whilst at the same time improve customer satisfaction and the council’s carbon footprint.” 

Following a procurement process, The Oaklea Trust is being proposed as the new contractor to provide the service and if Cabinet approves the recommendations, the contract would commence from 3 August 2011.