Island residents are being invited to find out more about planned improvements to local waste and bin collection services, including the closure of the Forest Road household recycling centre.
From November, Amey will be working in partnership with Isle of Wight Council to deliver waste and environmental services across the Island – including looking after kerbside collections, Household Waste Recycling Centres and waste treatment facilities.
As part of the new partnership, they will be investing in improving some of the Island’s existing waste sites and introducing modern, state-of-the-art technology to deal with local rubbish. This will include redeveloping the Island’s existing waste site at Forest Road in Newport. Amey will be applying for planning permission and an Environmental Permit to renovate the site, which will involve building a new, up-to-date mechanical treatment plant and refurbishing the existing advanced thermal treatment plant.
It has been confirmed that Amey are proposing to close the part-time Household Recycling Centre on site, which is no longer fit for purpose.
Amey will be applying separately for planning permission to improve Lynnbottom Household Waste Recycling Centre on Briddlesford Road, Downend, including increasing the number of recycling bays and allowing an area for small scale commercial waste recycling. There will also be improvement works and extended opening hours of Afton Marsh Household Waste Recycling Centre in Freshwater.
To keep everyone updated on these proposals, Amey are holding three public information sessions this month where anyone can drop in to find out more, meet the team and ask questions. The events will be held on:
• Thursday 10th September between 14:00-20:00
Yelfs, Union Street, Ryde
• Friday 11th September between 11:00 – 19:00
Riverside Centre, The Quay, Newport
• Saturday 12th Septemberbetween 10:00 – 16:00
Freshwater Memorial Hall, Avenue Road, Freshwater
Amey’s Account Director Tony Milton said:
“Amey will be a key part of the local community and we want to make sure everyone has an opportunity to find out about our exciting plans to improve services as part of our new partnership with the Isle of Wight Council.
“We want to introduce modern facilities and up-to-date technology, which is locally based to deal with local rubbish. We want to put your rubbish to good use, improve recycling rates to more than 55% and ensure more than 90% of the Island’s remaining household waste doesn’t end up being landfilled – a sustainable solution for all of us.
“The Island is a unique environment and we’ll also help to keep it that way, providing a waste collection service which is efficient and helps keep the streets as clean as possible.”
In addition to the proposals for Forest Park, Lynnbottom and Afton Marsh, the information events will allow residents to find out more about Amey’s proposals to:
• Introduce a mobile Household Waste Recycling Centre to provide a service to other areas of the Island.
• Introduce a dedicated education programme which will visit local schools, as well as set up a Community Waste Forum and Recycling Champion network to allow local residents to have their say and get involved.
• Improve and modernise waste collection services to help increase recycling rates. There will be no immediate change in November but, in Spring 2016, Amey want to introduce improvements including wheelie bins instead of bags for household rubbish. A collection will still take place every week and this will alternate between the recycling bins one week and the new general waste bin the next.
To coincide with the planning events, web pages containing further information about the planning application will provided from 10th September and will be updated regularly. These will be available at www.amey.co.uk/iowwaste.
