CORNWALL Council will be writing to the owners of self-catering properties and holiday lets in Port Isaac over the next few weeks to make them aware of their responsibility for disposing of their waste as part of a new pilot project being run in partnership with St Endellion Parish Council and waste contractor Cory Environmental.

In 2012 the government issued revised waste legislation that described how all waste types should be classified (i.e. household, commercial) based upon where the waste is produced.

This included a number of changes affecting campsites, charity shops, hotels, B&Bs and waste produced from self-catering accommodation. Cornwall Council said waste from these producers is now classified as commercial waste.

As a result of the legislation any producer of commercial waste is required, by law, to make their own arrangements for waste collection and disposal rather than being disposed of by the council’s household waste and kerbside recycling service.

Following a decision by members to implement the legislation in two phases, the council initially wrote to schools, nursing homes, residential homes hospitals, charities, clubs and societies advising them of the changes to the legislation and outlining their responsibilities.

The council said implementing the second phase, which includes waste from camp sites, self-catering accommodation and guest houses, has proved ‘more complex’, however, because of the scale of self-catering accommodation and guest homes in Cornwall, and what the council described as the added complication of second homes not being easily identifiable as holiday lets.

Over the past few months the council said it has been looking at ways of ensuring that the owners of these properties are disposing of their waste in accordance with the law and will be carrying out a pilot project in Port Isaac to test the process and assess the level of resources that will be needed to inform all properties in Cornwall of their duty.

This will involve reviewing the current waste arrangements in Port Isaac to help understand waste collections in the village. In line with legislation the council said the pilot will focus on where the waste is produced, and not how an individual property is rated.

The results of the pilot will then be analysed by officers from the Waste Management Team with a view to applying the process across the rest of Cornwall over a reasonable and practical period of time.

Joyce Duffin, Cornwall Council’s cabinet member for housing and environment, said: “It is important that we are fair and consistent in our approach and that all properties producing commercial waste pay for its collection and disposal, rather than the costs falling on council tax payers.

“This means ensuring that all property owners are made aware of their responsibilities with regard to the waste legislation.

“We are aware that, while a number of self-catering properties and holiday lets are already making their own arrangements for disposing of their waste, others are leaving their waste out in black bags for the council to collect and dispose of. This is illegal and we will be working with St Endellion Parish Council and waste contractor Cory Environmental to ensure that they are making the arrangements to dispose of their waste appropriately.”

Work has been carried out by officers from the Waste Management Team and Cory over the past few months to identify the owners of self-catering properties and holiday let accommodation in the village, as well as holiday letting agents and cleaning companies, and those local businesses which are wrongly using the household waste collection service to dispose of their commercial waste.

The council will now be writing to these people to explain their responsibilities for arranging for the collection and disposal of their waste, and informing them that from July 4, the authority will be stopping waste collections and removing any council provided waste and recycling containers from the property.

Cornwall Councillor for St Minver and St Endellion Andy Penny is backing the pilot project, he said: “I support the efforts to untangle domestic and commercial waste in our area and to reinforce business responsibility for their waste.

“As the chairman of Port Isaac Village Hall, a registered charity, I have had discussions with Cory and am waiting for the commercial contract to be produced.”