Rubbish at Recycling
Waste recycling by Newark and Sherwood District Council is shocking. Ranked 303 out of 350 Local Authorities, its 31.9% recycling rate is half that of the top Councils in England. Even in Nottinghamshire it is the second lowest.
Outsourced Recycling
Notts. County Council, our waste disposal Authority, has outsourced recycling to Veolia in a 26 year PFI contract.
The contract bans tetra-paks, meat, fruit and ready meal trays, foil items, shredded paper and lots of types of plastic from recycling.
Because there are so many different sorts of plastic, what can or cannot be recycled causes real confusion amongst the public.
PFI Contract Restrictions
The Veolia PFI Contract stipulates a low 5% contamination level on recycled items. In reality it had averaged 12%, even hitting 20% at times. This incurs additional recovery and disposal costs, largely because people are still unclear about the rules.
Nottinghamshire Councils have already admitted they will not achieve the 50% national recycling targets for 2020.
The Veolia contract will be reviewed next year. Will our Council take this opportunity to get recycling back on track?
Nearby South Kesteven District Council in Lincolnshire has just introduced a food waste collection service. Instead of being sent to landfill, the food waste is processed in an anaerobic digester to release methane to generate green electricity. The remaining waste is then turned into garden compost.
Local Election Results May 2023
A spectacular set of elections both nationally and locally here in Newark and Sherwood!
Overall Lib Dem gains were 405 nationally, which posed a problem for Sky News, whose swingometer apparently was not able to contemplate a set of gains of this magnitude. We exceeded 'Exceeded Expectations'!
Our local gains at the district level saw the addition of our third District Councillor with the victory of Keith Melton in Trent Ward. We also kept 2 of 3 councillors for Southwell, now Karen Roberts and Peter Harris. We were encouraged to see the increase in our share of votes in other seats where we were able to field candidtes. Congratulations to everyone.
We had a very good performance in Southwell Town Council, gaining 10 of the 14 seats for which there were candidates, with 6 of these won in elections and 4 being uncontested. Two Conservatives, one Labour candidate and one Independent were also successful. One place on the council remains to be appointed to.
The Conservatives had a terrible set of district and parish elections, losing about half of their district councillors and many PCs. The final DC result was Conservative 14, Labour 11, Independents 11 (8 for Independents for Newark and 3 for other Independents) and Lib Dems 3. Discussions will take place for some time on the composition of the new administration, which is unlikely to include Conservatives for the first time since 2007.
On behalf of the executive, we are extremely grateful to everyone who stood as candidates, as well as everyone who performed the various roles which were necessary for the campaigns. We are a small party and many of you worked very hard.
We are very grateful for their past work to councillors who have stood down at this election, including Peter Scorer and Stuart Thompstone. Malcolm Brock has stood down from the District, though continues to serve on Southwell TC.
We welcome new members to the party, who were motivated by this campaign. This phenomenon was particularly marked in Trent Ward. Upton support has to be singled out, evidenced for anyone who drove through, by the huge number of LD stakeboards and posters.
Philip Barron
Chair, Newark Liberal Democrats
7 May 2023