WIRRAL Council has launched a major consultation complete with roadshows over changes to our bins and waste collection times as it tries to hit recycling targets.

So far more than 7,000 people have taken part.

Householders are being asked to choose between either bin collections every three weeks or having their green wheelie almost halved in size.

The proposals have been slammed by Oxton councillor Stuart Kelly who has also launched an online petition against the scheme and is especially criticial of the consultation process.

He said: “People will see this for what it is - a council that has made up its mind just going through the motions.

“Limiting feedback to either a three weekly collection or reduced bin size is an insult."

Here council recycling chief Cllr Bernie Mooney explains why "doing nothing is not an option" and what the changes will mean for Wirral.

I AM absolutely delighted that we are getting such an overwhelming number of responses to our consultation on food recycling and waste management.

In just over a week, we have received more than 7,000 replies from across Wirral to our online survey and the feedback we are getting is giving us some great ideas as to how we will shape our future services.

The particularly pleasing thing for me has been the extent to which people have engaged with the council and shown an interest in the local issues that affect their environment.

Our ‘roadshows’ are proving to be a great success too with hundreds of residents coming along to get a better understanding of what we are looking to achieve.

It’s fair to say that in most cases people left the roadshow a lot more positive than when they arrived about what we are doing and why we are doing it.

I firmly believe that giving people the opportunity to talk about the issues face to face helps to ease some of the initial worries and concerns that people have and the roadshows seem to confirm this.

Council officers are already capturing all comments being made and questions being asked and I wanted to take this opportunity to talk about some of the more common questions that are being asked in an effort to provide greater clarity and reassurance that what we are doing is both good for Wirral and good for the environment.

Thank you to everyone who has participated so far.

More information can be found at www.wirral.gov.uk/food.

The consultation closes on September 9.

“I want to recycle more, but you won’t take other plastics such as yoghurt pots and food trays…”

This is probably the most commonly asked question and I know it can be confusing that we only collect and recycle plastic bottles but not others.

It’s also fantastic that so many people want to recycle more and care so much about the environment.

There are a number of reasons why we can’t collect other plastics at this time, with the most significant being to do with technology.

The reality is we can’t collect things for recycling that we can’t currently send through our recycling facility at Bidston.

That’s not to say it will never happen - and we are always working with the Merseyside Waste & Recycling Authority to identify new opportunities to collect materials that can be recycled through our kerbside schemes.

For the time being, these other plastics will need to stay in the green general waste bin.

“If we go to three-weekly collections or get a smaller green bin, will my council tax go down?”

Unfortunately, collecting and disposing of waste costs money…lots of money, and the cost goes up every year. Wirral is spending approximately £25 million every year collecting and disposing of residents’waste – that’s the stuff that comes from households and street cleaning, which costs us almost £70,000 every single day.

The less we throw away and the more we recycle only prevents that cost from going up further and doesn’t make it go down.

That’s why I am so keen and determined to make Wirral a truly environmentally-driven authority.

In the long-term, we will be not only be doing what is right for the environment and the planet, but saving the council future cost increases.

It’s so important to spend now to save for the future.

“But surely it will cost a lot of money to introduce food recycling and provide new green bins - I thought the council had to make savings?”

This is a view that has been expressed by many who have come to our roadshows.

It is true that the council does have very challenging savings targets, however, we have an opportunity to invest in our waste and recycling services due to being provided with a “Waste Development Fund” by the Merseyside Recycling & Waste Authority.

This fund can only be used to develop and enhance waste and recycling services – not general council budgets - and is sufficient to cover the replacement costs of wheeled bins if required and to introduce a food recycling system.

When we have a set of recycling services that enables residents to recycle a wide range of the most common materials including food, we will see the rewards of our investment in the reduced future costs that we pay for waste disposal.

“Why do we have to recycle food anyway?”

Recycling at least 50% of household waste is an absolute requirement for all local authorities by the year 2020…not just Wirral, but every local authority.

If we don’t, at the very least we will face a significant increase in the levy we pay for waste disposal, which already costs us more than £15 million every year, and there could be further sanctions.

At present, our rate is around 37% so it is clear that a major change is needed now.

And of all the options we have looked at that have been tested by others and deemed achievable for Wirral, the introduction of a weekly food recycling collection stands out as an absolute necessity.

Not only is food waste a major component of what currently goes into the green - non-recyclable or ‘residual’ - bin, it is also the stuff that generally smells, attracts insects and other creatures and creates environmentally-damaging methane when sent to rot in landfill.

When we start collecting this every week from outside your property and send it to a state-of-the-art ‘anaerobic digestion’ plant in a neighbouring borough, we will all see the benefits.

We will be recycling more, which will push us a lot closer to that 50% target; we will have a lot less going in our green bin, which means less going to expensive and unsustainable landfill; and we will be managing some of the more unpleasant, damaging waste that we generate in a more effective way, collecting it more regularly than we do currently and ensuring it is put to good use.

Did you know when food waste goes through the ‘anaerobic digestion’ process it produces reusable fuel, in the form of biogas, and biofertiliser for agricultural use?

Amazing to think that used tea bag or rotting chicken carcass can be so transformed.