Plans to deliver new waste, recycling and food waste collections across Cornwall next year will lead the agenda when Cornwall Council meets next week.
The changes to the waste services will improve recycling rates through the separate weekly collection of food waste, encourage more recycling and reduce the amount of rubbish collected, which will in turn help cut our carbon footprint.
The changes had been previously agreed, but, with rising costs throughout the construction industry, the project to deliver this new and improved infrastructure now needs more capital funding.
Although the council always aims to ensure that all of its capital projects make reasonable allowances for cost increases, the dramatic effect of inflation and the rapidly increasing costs of material and labour facing the whole construction industry, as well as issues such as rising fuel costs, have resulted in unprecedented cost increases that could not have been anticipated.
The council is being asked to approve a Cabinet decision to increase the current £62m capital programme to deliver the new collection arrangements for food waste and the increase in recycling. The exact figures cannot be disclosed at this stage due to commercial sensitivities.
The plan will see alterations to the four existing facilities at Bodmin, Connon Bridge, Launceston and St Erth, and a proposed new waste facility at Hallenbeagle.
To fund the extra borrowing, the proposal is that some funds are transferred from the waste revenue budget to the capital financing budget.
Cllr Linda Taylor, leader of Cornwall Council, said: “Increasing our recycling rates and moving towards our net-zero carbon goal are vital targets for the council, and this plan represents huge strides in that direction.
“Rising costs are an issue facing all businesses at present, and it is vital we move now to ensure we can deliver this ambitious plan next year.”
The meeting of the full council will take place at County Hall in Truro on Tuesday, July 12, starting at 10.30am. The meeting is open to the public, and can be viewed online via the council’s webcast service.