What will change?
An officer from T&MBC will be attending our Parish Council meeting on Thursday 6 June 2019 at 7.45pm in the Village Hall and will be presenting how the new recycling collections will operate.
This will be an excellent opportunity to hear how the changes affect you. You can also visit TMBC’s website for more information.
Borough Councillor Ann Kemp was presented with the KALC Community Award at our Annual Parish Meeting for her services to the community.
NOTICE OF ANNUAL PARISH MEETING OF TROTTISCLIFFE
The meeting will take place in the Village Hall
Thursday 4 April 2019 at 7.45 p.m.
A G E N D A
1 – Apologies for absence
2 – Minutes of the 2018 Annual Parish Meeting
3 – Chairman’s report
4 – County Councillor’s report
5 – Borough Councillor’s report
6 – Financial report for 2018/19
7 – Report of Village Hall Committee
8 – Report of the School Representative
9 – Members of the public
10 – Any other business
Text version:
A new recycling, waste collection and street cleaning provider
Tonbridge & Malling Borough Council has appointed Urbaser to take over its recycling, waste collection and street cleaning services from 1 March 2019.
Urbaser is one of the largest resource and cleaning management companies in Europe and the new contract will provide residents with a greatly improved recycling service, as well as street cleaning services.
What will change?
Initially there will be no change to your current collection services.
Your collection days will stay the same for now, although we are pleased to announce that as from 1 March we will be collecting on all bank holidays (except the Christmas Day and New Year’s Day bank holidays). As such, over Easter 2019, we will be collecting on both Good Friday and Easter Monday for the first time. See opposite for a reminder of what we collect.
From 30 September 2019 Tonbridge & Malling Borough Council and Urbaser will be introducing exciting service improvements including:
We’ll provide more information about the new services over the coming months, but don’t worry – you’ll get plenty of notice about the changes!
New recycling service roadshows!
Visit our new recycling service roadshows running in spring and summer 2019.
It’s a great opportunity to find out more about your new service provider and the improvements to your collection services. Staff from Tonbridge & Malling Borough Council and Urbaser will be touring the borough to meet residents and answer any questions about the new service.
Come and see us on Saturday 23 March ~ 9.30am to 2.30pm at The Big Bridge, Tonbridge High Street
We will be posting details of more events on our website, so please check to find out when we will be in your area!
Keep recycling!
Until the new services are introduced, your collections will continue as normal so please keep using your green bins and boxes! Here’s a reminder of your current recycling and waste services.
Current recycling and waste services
Green-lidded bin ~ takes food waste, cardboard, garden waste
Green box ~ takes paper, cans, aerosols, kitchen foil
Black wheeled bin ~ non-recyclable waste
More recycling
There are more than 40 recycling sites around the borough where you can recycle many different materials:
If you need to dispose of a large item you can book a bulky collection, or visit one of our Saturday freighter sites.
Use our interactive map to locate your nearest recycling site at: www.tmbc.gov.uk/recycleforall
*New* opt-in garden waste subscription service
From 30 September we are also introducing a new opt-in garden waste service for which there will be a charge. This will help us to significantly improve our recycling collections direct from your home to include plastics, glass and cartons as well as cans, paper and card.
Early Bird offer
If you wish to have your garden waste collected, sign up from Tuesday 7 May to Friday 2 August 2019 to get your Early Bird discount!
Early Bird offer will include:
To register from 7 May or for more information and FAQs please visit: www.tmbc.gov.uk/recycleforall
Tel: 01732 876147
Web: www.tmbc.gov.uk/recycleforall
Facebook: @tonbridgeandmalling
Twitter: @TMBC_Kent
Here are some of the questions about the new service you might be asking. We will provide more questions and answers as and when more details have been finalised.
1. Why is the contract changing?
Tonbridge & Malling’s current contract with Veolia is due to end on 28 February 2019. A new contract is currently being tendered and will commence on 1st March 2019. The new contract is in partnership with Tunbridge Wells Borough Council.
Whilst this will mean that services will be operated across the two boroughs, but each Council will still manage its own services and deal with its residents’ queries. The new contract will increase efficiency and improve services for local residents.
2. What services are included in the new contract?
The new contract includes:
When the new contract starts on 1st March 2019, services will initially remain the same as they are now, while preparation is made to launch the new recycling collection service.
The new service will be rolled out on a phased basis and is expected to be available to all residents by November 2019. We will keep you informed before any changes take place.
The key service changes are:
Improved recycling collections – you will be able to recycle glass bottles and jars, food and drinks cartons and most types of plastic bottles, pots, tubs and trays, along with cans and aluminium foil. This will all be collected from your Green Lidded Bin. Paper and cardboard will be collected from your Green box.
Garden Waste will be an opt-in chargeable collection service. When you subscribe to the service you will receive a new 240L wheeled bin which will be for garden waste only. You don’t have to subscribe to the service, you can take garden waste to your nearest household waste recycling centre or compost at home.
For information about home composting and how to purchase a reduced price compost bin please see www.getcomposting.com
(Please see separate FAQ’s for further details on the garden waste service >>).
Food Waste will be collected separately every week from a 23L food waste bin.
This will be for all food waste – cooked and uncooked – including dairy, meat, fish & bones. We will also supply you with a 5L kitchen caddy to store the food waste in until you empty it into the 23L external bin.
(Please see separate FAQ’s for further details on the food waste collection service >>).
3. Will my collection day change?
When we roll out the improved services, collection days will change for many households. This will improve efficiency across the two boroughs, which will include cross boundary working. The new rounds will also be designed with the two depots and the various disposal points in mind to reduce vehicle movements and maximise the time spent collecting you’re recycling & rubbish.
4. How will residents find out about the changes?
A comprehensive communications campaign is planned to ensure all residents are aware of the service changes including:
5. Will my usual collection staff change?
The existing collection staff will transfer to the new contractor on 1 st March 2019. However, the new collection services mean that your usual staff may be on different
rounds. This means that they may take a few weeks to learn the new rounds and where bins are left for collection, as well as coming at different times to your current collection time. Please make sure your bins are on the boundary of your property by 7am so they are visible from the road. You can also put your house name/number on them to help reduce missed collections and to make sure you get your bins back.
6. What can I put in my green lidded bin when the new collection
service starts?
Please make sure these are all empty. You don’t have to rinse them out but it does help keep your bin clean.
No plastic bags –thank you! Just put these items in loose.
7. What will go into my green box?
8. Will I fit all the card/cardboard in my green box?
Flatten any large boxes and put them beside the box on collection day. You can also use any cardboard boxes to store extra cardboard & paper if necessary. We will always supply an extra green box if you want one.
9. What will I put in my black rubbish bin when we will be able to
recycle so much?
10. What can’t I put in my black rubbish bin?
11. I live in a block of flats, will I be able to recycle more when the
new service is introduced?
You will receive recycling bins to recycle glass bottles and jars, cartons and other plastic packaging, tins, cans and aluminium foil. You will have a separate bin for paper and cardboard. We will look at introducing communal food waste collections where there is space to do so. All residents in each block of flats will be notified once
the new bins are in place.
12. I receive a “pull out” collection – will I still get this?
If you have previously registered for this service, you will still receive it. If you are having difficulty putting your bins on your boundary for collection and need assistance please contact the waste team (details below).
13. Is the Saturday service continuing?
The service will still be provided at the current locations. However, we will no longer accept garden waste on the Saturday Freighter once the new kerbside services have been introduced. Only those who subscribe to the garden waste service will have
their garden waste taken away. It wouldn’t be fair for some people to be able to have theirs taken away free of charge by using the Saturday Service, which is provided for bulky items only. All of the waste collected by the freighter has to be landfilled: it cannot go to the Energy from Waste plant due to its bulky nature.
14. Where is the rubbish / recycling / food waste taken?
Refuse from your black bin is taken to the Allington Energy from Waste plant, where it is burnt to generate electricity. The recycling from your green lidded bin will be sent to a Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) where the different recyclables are separated and sent for re-processing into new products. Food Waste will be sent to Blaise Farm for composting. The composted food waste is then used on local farmers fields as a soil improver to help grow more crops.
15. How will textiles and small Waste Electronic or Electrical Equipment (WEEE) and Household batteries be collected?
We will provide more details once we have discussed this with the selected
contractor.
16. Will the Council still be providing recycling ‘bring’ sites?
Yes, we will continue to maintain all our sites until the new collection service has been introduced across the borough. Inevitably, the usage of the sites will reduce when people can recycle more materials from home. However, we are aware that we need to retain some core sites in the Borough, for those people who live in flats or may have larger volumes of recycling at certain times of the year.
17. Why should I bother recycling if it all gets dumped in China
anyway?
In the past there have been exports of poor quality material to China and other countries, however, in Kent we have always tried to make sure material is recovered and recycled as close to home as possible.
For example, in the period 2012/13 – 2016/17, 79% of household waste was processed in Kent, 14.1% other UK destinations and only 6.9% went abroad.
In Tonbridge & Malling, 86.1% of household waste was processed in Kent, 12.8% in other UK destinations and only 1.1% abroad (mostly textiles to Africa). China and other countries have stopped accepting poor quality recyclate, which in turn drives up the quality of the Materials Recycling Facilities in the UK, so good quality products can be offered on the open market.
With the recent emphasis on plastics, it is hoped that more legislation will lead to manufacturers using more recyclable plastics or other recyclable materials to package their products, reducing the amount of low grade or unrecyclable material.
You can help by making sure you don’t put any plastic film or bags into your recycling bin, and making sure the recycling is not contaminated with food or other items.
If you still have a question please contact us at:
www.tmbc.gov.uk/waste
Waste.services@tmbc.gov.uk
(01732) 876147
From the Ryarsh Protection Group:
Please sign the petition that our MP is delivering to Parliament which opposes the
If you need help to understand how to complete the petition, please view this information:
Unfortunately there have been delays in getting this matter onto the Agenda for the KCC Committee to consider, but we understand this is now likely to take place on 28 November.
The Ryarsh Protection Group and Ryarsh Parish Council have been very active in bringing attention to these plans and encouraging objections.
Kent Police are looking for volunteers to play a new role in community policing. Could this be you?
As a Community Policing Volunteer (CPV) you’ll work closely with communities and businesses to promote community safety.
As you will be aware, the Borough’s new waste and recycling collection service will commence next year, offering a much improved recycling collection service from the home.
Materials collected for recycling will include plastic bottles, pots, tubs and trays, glass bottles and jars, cans, tins, aerosols and aluminium foil. Paper and cardboard will be collected separately and additional items collected will include textiles, small electricals and household batteries. Also included is a separate weekly food waste collection and an ‘opt-in’ chargeable garden waste collection service.
This means that usage of many of our recycling bring sites (47 in total) will fall once the new kerbside service starts. This reduction has been demonstrated in other boroughs when a comprehensive kerbside collection is introduced, and the numbers of bring sites have been reduced or removed completely.
This scheme was set up to give official recognition of members of the public who make significant contributions to their communities. The scheme is supported by the High Sheriff of Kent, the Chairman of Kent County Council and the Mayor of Medway.
On Thursday 5 July, Richard Wallis, Chairman of the Parish Council presented the late Trevor Ledamun’s wife with this award for all of his services to the village. Drinks and nibbles were served outside on a glorious evening and lots of stories and memories of Trevor were shared.
