News & Media > Environmental Services
23:02:2012
New Taskforce will further enhance Bristol's recycling service
The move comes three months into the new recycling and waste contract, under which May Gurney is providing waste and recycling collection services to all 189,000 homes across Bristol.
The new Cleaner Streets Taskforce is being led by Neal Willis, contract director for May Gurney who heads a team of more than 400 delivering Bristol's recycling and waste and street cleaning service. The Taskforce will spearhead further service improvements and combat missed collections.
May Gurney's contract with Bristol City Council began on 1 November 2011, and collection day changes soon followed to streamline the service. On 30 January, the long-anticipated new services began being rolled-out, with residents receiving an extra 55-litre green recycling box to recycle their plastics and Tetra Paks, and a slightly smaller 180-litre wheelie bin to replace their old 240-litre bin. The smaller bins for residual waste reflect the fact that residents need less bulky wheelie bins as they recycle more of their household waste.
Phase 1 of the new service has been successfully introduced, bringing plastics and Tetra Pak collections to the kerbside for 33,000 households. Phase 2 will roll out from 27 February, Phase 3 will start on 23 April and the final phase will begin on 21 May. By the end of June all households in Bristol will have the new services.
Recycling rates in the city reached their highest ever level of 53% in December 2011, with the amount of waste being sent to landfill down to just over 19%.
Neal Willis, contract director for May Gurney, said: "This is a very important contract to us and progress in the first three months has been good. We would like to thank Bristol residents for their continued efforts to recycle and reduce their waste.
"Since the start of the contract we have introduced collection day changes, street cleansing changes and new services such as the plastic and Tetra Pak collections. Overall, the new services are running well and our new team have worked hard to implement the changes.
"As we look to move to the next stage of the contract we have appointed the Cleaner Streets Taskforce to identify improvements that can be made to the service for Bristol residents and to make the necessary changes.
"The new waste and recycling contract has now reached all 189,000 homes and recycling rates exceed Government targets. In addition the £2.5m a year we are saving the council in operational costs will directly benefit council tax payers and help safeguard other service areas during this difficult economic climate."
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