Liberal Democrats welcome recycling u-turn

Liberal Democrats on Wiltshire Council have welcomed a council decision to improve recycling. The original 'harmonisation' plan produced by the Conservative council consisted of taking the lowest common denominator of the old district services. North Wilts and Salisbury would have lost their weekly waste collection without any new recycling, and West Wiltshire residents would have had to pay for green waste collections.

Under the revised scheme, set to be approved by the council's cabinet next Tuesday (19th), Wiltshire residents will have their waste plastic and cardboard collected. The existing black box recycling will continue, garden waste will be collected free of charge, and there will be a fortnightly collection of residual rubbish.

"The impetus for a better way was given by the Liberal Democrats on the Waste Scrutiny Task Group who produced a minority report setting out why the council needed to be more ambitious," explained shadow Environment spokesman Trevor Carbin

"The scheme is almost as good as that proposed in the Liberal Democrat manifesto for Wiltshire", added group leader Jon Hubbard. "The only difference is that we wanted to include a food waste collection to avoid the problems of smell and vermin which can be associated with fortnightly collections, and to reduce the amount going to landfill. I'm glad to see that the council is considering this option and it's likely to be the next step forward."