Scottish Government

5 Dundee City Council

5.1 Details of pilot scheme

5.1.1 Pilot scheme area

The pilot scheme area was situated in the north west of the city, comprising of two adjacent multi-storey blocks. The two blocks comprised of 168 households. There are no other properties in the immediate vicinity. These blocks were chosen as they had no existing recycling facility and they formed a distinct area.

Annex 4 provides a breakdown of the ACORN classification for the pilot area. All the households in the two blocks are of ACORN Type 54 - "Single and Single Parents, High-Rise Estates".

The Project Team originally requested that the number of households in the pilot scheme area be increased to 500 plus. This would have been undertaken in a different area of Dundee to that originally proposed. However, two days before the submission of bids for pilot scheme funding, these blocks were assigned for demolition. Given the time constraints for submission of a final proposal the Council did not have sufficient time to survey and plan implementation for another set of multi-storey blocks. Thus, the Council had to revert back to the original scheme (168 households)

5.1.2 Pre-pilot residual waste and recyclables collection

The residual waste collection system before implementation of the pilot scheme can be summarised as follows.

Prior to implementation of the pilot scheme, recycling provision was via seven recycling points close to the pilot scheme area. Amongst the respondents to the SWAG pre-pilot, survey the most commonly used recycling point was the Tesco supermarket on Kingsway (1.5 miles from the pilot scheme area). The following materials are collected at the recycling point: Aluminium Cans; Glass; Paper and Cardboard.

5.1.3 Pilot scheme

The main objective of the scheme is to pilot the provision of near-entrance recycling facilities for multiple occupancy high-rise properties. It was decided to target high-rise blocks as Dundee does not have a large concentration of 'traditional' stone built tenements, and high-rise blocks were considered to be the most problematic in terms of recycling service provision. The pilot scheme infrastructure can be summarised as follows.

Figure 5-1 Photograph of Dundee City Council's pilot scheme

Steel cans were not collected as these are easily removed at the DERL (Dundee Energy Recycling Ltd) Waste to energy plant which is used for disposal of Dundee's residual waste.

Vandalism was a concern, so bins were locked and also chained together to prevent rolling. The Council were also careful to site the bins in a visible area.

The residual waste collection system in the pilot scheme area remained unchanged.

5.2 Pilot scheme evaluation

5.2.1 Tonnage of material recovered

The pilot scheme commenced operation on 22nd August 2005. Participation in the pilot scheme was low and the collection frequency was reduced to weekly. During the monitoring period none of the glass or can bins were emptied.

For the period up to 31 December 2006, data received from Dundee City Council shows a total of 3.75 tonnes of recyclate material was collected. All of this recyclate was newspaper. This is equivalent to a diversion rate of 1.17 kg/hh/week of recyclate. Results from waste analysis are discussed separately in Section 11.

5.2.2 Results of SWAG public opinion surveys

The target sample for the opinion surveys was all of the households in the two blocks. However, the survey teams had difficulty in finding people at home and only 34 people responded to the pre-pilot survey, and 61 to the mid-pilot. It should therefore be borne in mind that the following results are from a relatively small sample size.

Figure 5-2 and Figure 5-3 summarise the key results. Before the pilot, 97% of respondents stated they had no household recycling scheme. With the pilot in place, 61% reported they knew about it and used it, 31% knew about it but did not use it, and 8% reported they did not have, or did not know about, the pilot recycling scheme.

Figure 5-2 Use of household recycling scheme: pre- and mid-pilot.

Figure 5-3: Use of recycling points: pre- and mid-pilot

The reported use of recycling points reduced by a third from 32% to 10%. The reported use of recycling centres increased from 3% to 10%. (These figures should be treated with a degree of circumspection given the relatively small sample sizes noted above).

Table 5-1 shows the most common materials recycled at recycling points pre- and mid-pilot. There is a drop in the number of people recycling glass, which is collected by the pilot scheme. It should be remembered that the Dundee scheme is very similar to a recycling point and it is possible some respondents may have confused their answers.

Table 5-1 Most common materials recycled at recycling points

Table 5-2 shows the most common reasons cited for not using the pilot scheme service.

Table 5-2 Most common reasons for not using the pilot scheme service

¹ Percentage of those respondents who stated they had multi-occupancy recycling service but did not use it.

Amongst those who used the service, 95% were satisfied with the service. The most common suggestions for improvement were: no suggestions for improvement (59%), bins locked/fenced in (8%), and more materials should be collected (8%).

Figure 5-4 shows the main materials recycled by respondents using the scheme.

Figure 5-4 Materials recycled ( SWAG survey results)

5.2.3 Operational feedback

Dundee City Council operations and waste management staff highlighted the following points regarding operation of the pilot scheme.

• Vandalism proved not to be a significant problem. The bins was subject to a small amount of vandalism, comparable with that typically experienced at recycling points.
• The Council were disappointed with participation in the scheme, in particular use of the glass and can bins. Efforts were made to increase participation, including the use of door-knocking and liaison with the local tenants group.
• The Council noted that the support of caretakers/concierges would be beneficial to schemes associated with multi-storey blocks.
• Operationally the scheme was considered very efficient to manage. Frequency of collection could be monitored and varied as required.
• The on street facility allows for flexibility in the collection frequency as vehicle access is unrestricted.

5.2.4 Summary of scheme performance

* Percentage of those using the scheme. Based on public opinion surveys, see also results from detailed waste analysis (Section 11)

5.3 Cost effectiveness analysis

Dundee City Council based their costs of rolling out the scheme on the operational parameters shown below.

The Council made it clear that if the scheme were to be rolled out they would likely service the scheme from their existing fleet. Vehicle costs were added here to allow comparison with other schemes.

Based on the methodology detailed in Section 3.5 the diversion rate for pilot scheme rollout is estimated to be 71 kg/hh/yr. Therefore, the resulting amount of recyclate recovered from roll-out of the pilot scheme is projected to be 143 tonnes per year.

Rollout costs have been agreed with Dundee City Council and are shown in Table 5-3. Full details of costs can be found in Annex 8 - Pilot Scheme Cost Data - and Annex 9 - Rollout Cost Data.

Table 5-3 Pilot scheme rollout costs - Dundee City Council