A BID for more than £1million could be submitted to secure weekly rubbish and recycling collections in South Holland for the next five years.
South Holland District Council is to decide whether it will make a final bid for the Government cash, which if awarded could see up to three new jobs created.
The money could also be earmarked to replace a “substantial proportion” of the existing refuse collection fleet with state-of-the-art electric-diesel vehicles – if it is a viable option.
District councillors will make the decision on whether or not they wish to apply for £1,768,050 from the Department of Communities and Local Government (DCLG) Weekly Collection Support Scheme – alongside a commitment to maintain weekly collections for five years – at its meeting tomorrow.
An outline bid was submitted in May and feedback received from DCLG in June, which has been used to shape the council’s final bid.
The deadline for submission is August 17 and successful bidders will be notified in October.
The bid includes three separate strands including the purchase of the new energy efficient trucks, funding to provide households with free black sacks and a targeted waste education, reward and behaviour change programme.
This could include three members of staff being taken on and the development of a reward and incentive scheme encouraging residents to recycle more.
It is also hoped it would help educate residents about the importance of putting out rubbish to be collected at the correct times and discourage fly-tipping.
It is hoped the scheme would take South Holland’s recycling rate to 36 per cent and bring in an income of £529,000 over the five year period as the council “sells” the recyclable materials it collects.