THERE’S a new man at the helm of the organisation in charge of Dorset’s rubbish.

The Dorset Waste Partnership (DWP) Joint Committee has elected Cllr Anthony Alford as its new chairman.

Cllr Alford, a member of West Dorset District Council, takes over from Dorset County councillor Hilary Cox.

The DWP is made up of all seven Dorset councils, not including Bournemouth and Poole, and provides waste collection, disposal and street cleaning services.

The Joint Committee is the partnership’s decision-making body, which oversees the services it provides on behalf of its seven partner councils. It consists of two members from each council.Cllr Alford is a district councillor for the Netherbury ward and Vice-Chairman of West Dorset District Council’s Executive Committee.

Cllr Cox has left the committee having played a leading role in partnership working on waste in Dorset for more than a decade. From 2003, she chaired the Dorset Waste Management Liaison Panel that oversaw the adoption of a joint waste strategy by the seven councils before becoming Chair of the DWP on its formation in 2011.

The DWP aims to increase Dorset’s recycling to 68 per cent and drive down costs by £2m a year by introducing a standardised Recycle for Dorset collection service.