Decision details

To set out the conclusions of the Technical, Environmental and Economic Practicability test carried out for recycling in Thanet under the Waste England and Wales Regulations 2011 (amended).

1.  That the current collection methodology be retained in Thanet for the present as full kerbside sorting is not economically feasible, but the system is reviewed when significant changes to the collection service are being proposed.

The council was required by the regulations to undertake a TEEP test in relation to its recycling collection by 1st January 2015. This assessed the technical, environmental and economic impacts of undertaking fully separated kerbside collection of recycling into glass, metal, paper/card and plastic.

This has concluded that although the separate collection of these materials is technically possible and would improve the quality of recycling collected, it is not currently economically feasible for the council. Although this assessment will be reviewed when significant changes are being planned to the recycling collection service, at present the council is not proposing changes to the service.

The council considered moving to a fully separated collection system, with glass, metal, paper/card and plastic being placed in separate containers by residents and then collected individually. In addition, the kerbside sorting of materials into the four different recycling streams was also considered. Both these approaches are technically possible and have quality benefits for the collected material, but have been rejected under the current assessment based on their affordability under the economic test.