Bottle banks in Basingstoke face axe (From Andover Advertiser)
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Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council aim to save £38,000 a year by axing bottle banks
12:00pm Tuesday 12th March 2013 in Basingstoke By Adam Richards
Glass recycling bottle banks in Eastrop Park are among those earmarked for removal
DOZENS of bottle banks are set to be scrapped in a bid to save council cash in Basingstoke and Deane.
Forty-one glass bottle-bring banks could be removed in the next three months if the idea is given the go-ahead by councillors this week. The bottle recycling facility in the car park at the Civic Offices is not among those facing the chop.
The borough-wide plan could save Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council £38,000 a year in emptying costs.
It is also proposed that alongside the removal of bottle banks, residents will be banned from putting glass bottles into household black bins in a bid to encourage more kerbside glass recycling.
It is estimated that the planned course of action alone will boost the borough’s recycling rate by one per cent.
The proposed removal of the bottle banks follows a dramatic 75 per cent drop-off in usage since the phased roll-out of kerbside glass collection in October 2011.
According to figures in a report for the council’s housing and environment committee, the council spends £92,800 each year emptying glass banks.
Overton Independent councillor Ian Tilbury, a former critic of kerbside glass collection, said scrapping the bottle banks makes “economic sense”.
“In simple terms we have got to look to get rid of them,” he said. “They are not cost-effective to collect from. What the long-term impact of that is I don’t know.”
The council is looking to use the space left by the removed bottle banks by installing other recycling banks for waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE), DVDs, and clothes and textiles.
It is not known how much it would cost to install the new banks, but the WEEE bank collection points have been trialled in 10 areas around the borough including at Popley Fields Community Centre, Popley, and Beach Park car park, in Oakley’s Station Road.
