WAVERLEY residents who don't bother to recycle - and that amounts to about 52 per cent of households - will have no choice when Waverley converts to alternate weekly refuse collection, possibly from next spring. That was the message delivered at Waverley Borough Council's executive meeting on Tuesday, as councillors gave their blessing to the change in a decision set to be ratified by the full council on Tuesday next week. The go-ahead is expected to be given to enter into a contract with Onyx Environmental Services for alternate weekly collections - of waste one week, recyclables on the same day the following week. "A lot of people don't bother to recycle. They have got the bins, but they don't use them. Sorry folks... they will have to," declared environment portfolio holder Victor Scrivens. "If they can't get it into their waste bin because it will only be emptied every two weeks, they will have to recycle. Compulsion is the good thing about it." In the last financial year Waverley recycled just 20.73 per cent of household waste, failing to reach its target of 24 per cent. The county-wide agreed target is 36 per cent. "I actually think we should be looking for more. Fifty per cent is achievable," said Mr Scrivens. He stressed that the change was not about making financial savings and pointed out that local authorities that have already adopted the system know it works. The intention is to continue recycling of glass, paper and cans in existing containers and plastic in an additional container. For those who wish to subscribe to the service, at an estimated cost of £40 a year, garden waste, which currently makes up 22 per cent of waste in the wheelie bins, will be collected from a 50-litre reusable polypropylene sack. The green waste service will be subsidised for those in receipt of benefits. The new system would "remove the option to dump everything in the wheelie bin", said Waverley's environment director Peter Maudsley. ."
