Centre stage

摘要

Last April, our recycling centres stopped allowing people to dispose of one large item, or up to 80 litres of construction waste, per day free of charge. There were concerns in some quarters - particularly about a possible increase in fly-tipping -but that's not what we've seen. We reflected long and hard on our experiences and those of colleagues elsewhere. Places such as Staffordshire and North Yorkshire weren't seeing significant increases in fly-tipping, so we didn't see why it would be any different in Norfolk. We made a commitment to review the data in detail, however, and to make changes if necessary. The concerns have not been validated by what we have seen. There were also worries about an increase in residual waste, but we haven't seen that, either. Initially, we estimated that the savings would be £100,000 per year, but - once we got into operational reality - that increased to more than £500,000, based on behaviour changes and a reduction in operational costs linked to reduced visitor numbers. The previous system of small allocations probably encouraged people to make multiple visits. We've recouped about eight per cent of service costs [of running recycling centres] in preference to having to close sites or further reduce their hours. Most people are within 20 minutes' travelling distance of a recycling centre.