Report - London Borough of Hillingdon

23. The Action Plan itself runs to many pages and consequently it would be impractical to
run through and comment on every single action especially when it is recognised that within
Hillingdon a significant number of the suggested actions and individual pieces of work have
either been completed or are well under way. Therefore detailed below are the main issues
which Hillingdon needs to consider with respect to the future development of the Borough’s
waste management services under the context of the JMWMS :-
• Recycling / Composting rates of 28%, 40% and 50% by March 2007, March 2010
and March 2020.
24. As detailed above with the implementation of the weekly household collection of
mixed dry recyclables Waste Division officers are confident of achieving the 28% recycling
target by March 2006 some 12 months ahead of schedule. In turn assuming that current
negotiations to include glass recycling in the weekly household recycling service are
successful; and proposed changes to the New Years Green Lane and South Ruislip Civic
Amenity sites go ahead within the next 2 years Waste Division officers are also confident of
achieving the 40% recycling target by March 2010. The final target of 50% recycling by 2020
is far more challenging and will not be met without further radical changes to the household
collection services for recyclables, compostables and residual wastes.
• The JMWMS will not be prescriptive as to the collection systems used by the
Borough’s to achieve the landfill reduction, recycling and composting targets.
25. The Action Plan contains a number of measures, such as fortnightly refuse collection,
which will be controversial at best. Therefore one of the key issues that was insisted upon by
WLWA’s Constituent Borough’s was that the Action Plan was not to be prescriptive. In other
words if a Borough can reasonably demonstrate that it can achieve the key targets by the
specified dates through means not necessarily detailed in the Action Plan then such
Boroughs should be given the freedom to pursue their own course of action rather than
being tied to the those actions detailed in the JMWMS. Therefore if a Borough can
reasonably expect to achieve a 50% recycling rate by 2020 without implementing the
fortnightly collection of residual refuse then it should be allowed to do so. However, in
considering this principle it should also be remember that like the Mayor for London, WLWA
also have ‘Powers of Direction’ over the Borough’s waste services which can be used if
WLWA believe that a Borough’s actions are not conducive to the achievement of the
JMWMS.
• All Borough’s to collect cardboard, plastics and compostable kitchen wastes.
26. Currently Hillingdon already collects cardboard through the Borough’s network of
recycling sites and via the weekly household collection service for mixed dry recyclables
which also collects plastic bottles. In addition the Authority is also involved in a small trial at
the South Ruislip Civic Amenity site which collects all other types of soft and hard plastics
not collected via the weekly service.
PART 1 – MEMBERS, PUBLIC AND PRESS
Cabinet report 10 th November 2005 Page 212