Jobs could be binned as council looks to shake up waste services

Under the proposals, which go before a key committee this week, the council would:

Introduce charges for collecting "bulky" household items (saving 322,000);

No longer collect textiles (saving 105,000);

End recycling collections from businesses or introduce charges (saving 83,000);

Make a 90 per cent reduction in council-run community recycling facilities (saving 72,000).

The council's acting head of finance said in the report the changes should be introduced unless arguments against them were "overpoweringly persuasive".

The officer said: "Given the unprecedented budgetary pressures faced by the city council in 2011/12... any proposals for the further development of the waste collection service which can potentially release sizeable savings without any significant diminution of services to customers, or without the need to release any full-time staff, have to be actively supported.

"...From a financial perspective it is therefore the case that the measures proposed – which prospectively offer savings of about 600,000 in a full year – should be implemented as soon as possible.

"Any considerations which would preclude the implementation of these measures would need to be overpoweringly persuasive for any part of the resultant savings to be foregone."

The changes would slash the number of community recycling facilities, which are on sites including schools and supermarkets, from 180 to just 20.

Use of the these facilities has been steadily falling since the introduction of recycling options and collections from homes.

Nearly 2,000 tonnes was collected from community recycling facilities in 2007/08, and this is expected to have fallen to a low of 1,342 tonnes by the end of this financial year.

Kerbside textile collections have been made in Hull since 2003.

The report said this service is "very expensive" for the amount it collects, and residents are confused by it as textiles are not collected at the same time as recycling bins.

The current cost of collecting textiles is not sustainable because of current financial pressures faced by the council, the report said.

The council's bulky items collection is one of the few in the country that is currently free, with 80 per cent of other authorities charging for the service.

And of the 20 councils in Yorkshire and the Humber region, only three operate a free bulky items collection service.

About 33,000 requests for this service are made in Hull each year.

The cost of waste management to the council has increased by 3.8m since 2008/09, to a projected total cost of 17.8m by the end of this financial year.

Its recycling rates have, however, improved dramatically, avoiding the impact of potential additional tax costs by sending excess waste to landfill.

The council has set itself a target of recycling 45 per cent of household waste by the end of this year, and it is already exceeding that.

Landfill tax has risen by 16 per tonne since 2008/09, and had the council not increased its recycling rates it would have been paying about 1.4m extra this financial year to send waste to landfill.

The council may also alter the frequency of its household waste and recycling collections, introducing fortnightly collections for general waste (currently collected weekly), and introducing weekly collections of blue recycling bins (currently collected fortnightly).

A survey of residents found 70 per cent of respondents would be satisfied with this option.

The report will be considered by the Value for Money Overview and Scrutiny Commission on Friday.