Street Cleansing & Recycling

The Service

The amount of waste being sent to landfill across North Somerset has significantly reduced since Glendale commenced operations in 2013. Overall the proportion of North Somerset Council’s waste from the streets, parks and beaches now being diverted is c70%, compared with 0% the year before Glendale took over the service.

Our partnership with North Somerset Council aims to reduce, reuse, recover and recycle as much as possible to keep the streets and surrounding areas clean, sustainable and environmentally friendly.

We have diverted over 3,000 tonnes of litter, street sweepings and beach waste from landfill in 2014 through innovative operational solutions, changes in vehicles and machinery, staff education and training and the use of mechanical/biological treatment to process collected waste.

This approach has ensured that more recycling is taking place than ever before, saving the Council £100,000 on landfill costs per annum. Over achievements in our targets has allowed an additional £40,000 to be passed onto North Somerset Council in budget savings.

Our approach to waste management in North Somerset is centred on the innovation brought into the street cleansing service. Waste is separated at source by staff and recycling bins are being installed to further reduce litter and through our engineering team.

Our vehicles have been designed to allow for separation of waste, allowing for waste to be bulked up at the Glendale recycling centre in Weston-super-Mare for onward processing away from landfill.

This activity was further improved towards the end of 2014 with the introduction of a central picking station which allows for recycled materials from non-segregated waste bins to be removed and sent on for recycling, continually improving our offering to residents and offering further savings to the Council.P1020161

Here are just a few facts to illustrate the depth and scale of our activities:

• 3,300 tonnes of streets and parks waste in North Somerset was diverted from landfill in 2014

• Our Barber Surf Rake rakes 635,000 m2 of beach at Weston Super Mare every morning at 6am

• Our 8 leaf clearing teams recycled 600 tonnes in Autumn 2014

• Our fleet of 7 road sweepers sweep 1,100km of pavements, streets and highways