Letter to the Editor: The Forest of Dean Council’s contractor collects our waste and recycling materials. 

The contract costs nearly £4 million and likely to go up with inflation. 

The waste collected is treated or recycled depending on the materials collected. Income from recycled materials varies and is reported to be unprofitable – no commercial takers.

Without getting into technicalities, complex collection, transport, and treatment involve additional energy input which worsens the carbon footprint of the overall process and also cost. 

Absurd as it may appear, the county manages the recycling and processing contracts for the waste collected by the District.

There was no serious study of the waste collection systems to ascertain the best mix in terms of achieving least cost and best carbon footprint.

Following questions related to the council’s aim to achieve net-zero (in terms of carbon emissions) by 2030 which includes waste collection I received a lengthy response from the council’s climate change specialist. 

Needless to say there were no responses to the specific issues raised except references to council meetings going back five years. 

The real question is did anyone look at the different waste collection and treatment systems to come up with the lowest carbon emissions and cost? The answer appears to be “No.”

Did I learn anything from the Council’s responses? Regrettably the answer is ‘NO’.  

Venk Shenoi, Blaisdon