EXCEPTIONAL CIRCUMSTANCES POLICY

This policy is to specify Tameside Council’s approach to dealing with requests for additional general waste capacity.

• Where a household claims that they have insufficient capacity in which to dispose of their waste, they will be required to complete an application form (Appendix 1 ) for additional capacity.  The householder will also be asked to complete a waste diary (Appendix 2 ) over a two week collection period.

• Upon receipt of the application a Waste and Recycling Enforcement Officer will arrange to visit them at their property to carry out a waste audit. The Officer will assess the provision of containers at their property. If it is demonstrated that the current capacity is still inadequate after careful recycling across all waste streams on a regular basis, then;

• If there is excess waste and it is determined that maximum recycling is taking place in that household then the Council will provide additional capacity free of charge.

• Where recycling is not taking place, the Council will write to the householder explaining that additional capacity will not be provided and will give further advice on how to maximise recycling.

• Larger households (6 persons or more) will not be required to have a waste audit. Additional capacity will be provided free of charge. The householder’s use of the additional capacity will be subject to review. It is the responsibility of the applicant to inform the Council of any change in circumstances.

• A household with excess refuse waste due to having a recognised medical condition – due to the use of items such as incontinence pads, adult nappies, colostomy bags, catheter bags – will not be required to complete a waste diary over a two week collection period or have a waste audit.  Additional capacity will be provided free of charge. The householder’s use of the additional capacity will be subject to review.  It is the responsibility of the applicant to inform the Council of any change in circumstances.

• In hard to reach areas where the Council cannot maintain economic and efficient collections to specific properties, recycling services will not be offered to those affected householders. Whilst we would encourage the householder to recycle using the bring sites infrastructure, until such time that we can provide a recycling collection service the householder would be able to place such items in with the refuse and may be entitled to extra capacity upon application.