Cornwall Council has signed up to a new Commitment to ensure residents in Cornwall receive a waste and recycling collection service which is value for money and meets their needs.

Julian German, the Council’s Cabinet Member for Waste Management, Climate Change and Historic Environment said: “By signing up to this Commitment we are reinforcing the message to our residents that we are committed to providing them with a waste and recycling collection service which is right for them.

The Commitment makes it clear what residents can expect from our service and we hope it will improve residents’ satisfaction with it even further.”

The Waste Collection Commitment is based on research into what people like and dislike about their existing services and issues that are important to them. These include regular and reliable collections and clean streets after collections. The Commitment has been developed by WRAP (Waste & Resources Action Programme) and the Local Government Association (LGA). It sets out ten points that the Council will meet in delivering in its service.

The Waste Collection Commitment states:

We are committed to providing waste and recycling services which are good value for money and which meet the needs of our residents.

This means we will:

1 explain clearly what services you can expect to receive;

2 provide regular collections;

3 provide a reliable collection service;

4 consider any special requests that individual households may have;

5 design our services and carry out collections in a way that doesn’t produce litter;

6 collect as many materials for recycling as we can and explain to you what happens to them;

7 explain clearly what our service rules are and the reasons for them;

8 tell you in good time if we have to make changes to your services, even temporarily;

9 respond to complaints we receive about our services; and

10 tell all our residents about this commitment to collecting waste.

Verity Palk, Waste Development Manager, at Cornwall Council, says “The Council is already meeting the principles of the Waste Collection Commitment to varying degrees. However the principles laid out in the Commitment will be used to help shape our future waste collection and recycling services, and state what the public can expect from these”.

More information on the collection services available in Cornwall can be found on the Recycling, Rubbish and Waste pages at www.cornwall.gov.uk or by calling 0300 1234 141