A council is proposing to reduce the capacity of wheelie bins in a bid to increase recycling.

A report is going to Tewkesbury Borough Council's Overview & Scrutiny Committee next week (July 24) proposing introducing 140 litre capacity bins, rather than the current 180 litres. These would be for new properties and replacement bin requests, meaning a gradual shift towards smaller bins across the borough.

Stroud District Council already has 140 litre bins as standard and has the highest recycling rate in the county.

Meanwhile, the performance of the council's waste, street cleaning and grounds maintenance contractor, Ubico, has come under review by the committee.

At the end of the financial year, the full year spend on Tewkesbury Borough Council's contract with Ubico was £5,510,215, which includes an overspend of £35,265.

Budget variations included:

• £108k underspend on diesel

• £86k supplies and services overspend linked to the trade waste service variation

• £86k overspend due to vehicle hire costs

• Increased utilities costs resulting in a £38k overspend

• £53k underspend from lower tipping charges

• £32k underspend from lower PPE costs

Ubico continued to improve its waste collection accuracy and cut missed collections, hitting a collection accuracy rate of 99.97% in 2023. There were 1,673 missed properties for the year across all waste streams - refuse, recycling, food waste and garden waste.

Overall recycling collected in 2023 was 8,824 tonnes, down from 9,270 tonnes in 2022. Overall refuse collected rose from 14,3334 tonnes in 2022 to 14,964 tonnes in 2023.

Elsewhere, Ubico's summer grass cutting schedule was hit by the poor weather. It meant the company was unable to use ride-on mowers and heavy plant equipment, including tractors, to avoid damage to both the equipment and the land.

This delay extended the grass cutting schedule from the planned four to five weeks to six to seven weeks, with a knock-on effect on the second scheduled cutting cycle. A majority of grounds maintenance staff volunteered to work 14 consecutive days to make sure the second cycle was completed on time.

Looking to the future, Ubico's diesel vehicles will be moving to hydro-treated vegetable oil (HVO). And two street cleansing cage vehicles will be replaced with fully electric models, significantly reducing greenhouse gas emissions for the fleet.

Over the past five years, more than 3,000 properties have been added to the borough. To accommodate this growth, Ubico plans to introduce new rounds in 2024.

Ubico has been delivering the council's waste, recycling, and street cleansing services since April 2015. A five-year extension was agreed by Tewkesbury Borough Council starting in April 2022. The Overview and Scrutiny Committee reviews the performance of the contract on an annual basis.