News & Media > Environmental Services
16:02:2010
Bridgend: the story so far
May Gurney is currently going through the process of introducing itself to residents and explaining the benefits the new waste and recycling services will bring for householders and the environment.
May Gurney already delivers similar award-winning services for 18 local authorities in England and Wales and the new long-term partnership with Bridgend County Borough Council will include collections for a huge range of recycling, food waste and general waste, as well as the management of the council’s four household amenity and recycling centres.
May Gurney is turning waste management on its head by focussing on waste reduction and recycling. The service it has developed for the people of Bridgend County Borough focuses on increasing recycling rates across the area. The goal is to make it easy and convenient for people to recycle much more. For example, there will be a weekly collection of food waste.
Although it might take a little time for residents to get used to the service, May Gurney’s experience shows that it very quickly becomes second nature. In fact, when residents see how much food they throw away, they change their habits and generate around 25% less waste. In doing so they save on their weekly food bills, and as every tonne of food waste avoided is worth 4.5 tonnes of CO2, this helps towards climate change too.
Because more is being recycled – food waste and a much wider range of materials including paper, glass, plastic bottles, cans and cardboard – far less goes into black bags destined for landfill, thus reducing landfill charges and removing the potential for fines. This means general waste collections can be moved to every fortnight.
In addition to increasing recycling and reducing the amount going to landfill May Gurney is also passionate about extracting the maximum value from recycled materials for the council. This is why its teams sort recycling at the kerbside.
Separated recycling is more valuable to the companies that re-process because it hasn’t been ‘contaminated’ by being mixed up with other materials – ‘contaminated’ waste ends up in landfill.
The new way of doing things is in total accord with the Welsh Assembly Government’s ambitious waste strategy and means that the people of Bridgend County Borough will be at the forefront of a recycling revolution.
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