Recycling almost doubled in Middlesbrough since new bins were introduced

Recycling has almost doubled in Middlesbrough since new bins were introduced across the town.

If waste collected is significantly reduced compared to increased recycling levels, then Middlesbrough Council will consider introducing fortnightly waste and weekly recycling collections.

The Executive agreed last April to review recycling rounds in a view to changing collections from weekly to fortnightly for refuse and fortnightly to weekly for recycling.

However, Government funding for new refuse, recycling and green waste bins brought into use last year ties the council in to provide weekly refuse collections until 2017 meaning no changes can be made before then and without being agreed by the Executive.

At the time the then executive member for environment, Cllr Nicky Walker said: “Consideration should be given, before examining any possibility of reducing refuse collections in favour of more frequent recycling collections, to the fact that food waste will start to decompose if left for a sufficient period of time whereas dry recyclables do not.”

Ken Sherwood, waste and environment strategy manager at Middlesbrough Council, told the council’s environment scrutiny panel at a meeting today to update members on household waste management that recycling rates were at 20% in 2013 compared to 40% of the best performing authorities in the country.

He said the results for the first three quarters of the current financial year were 43.1%, 38.3% and 30.8% which averaged at 37.4%. He said he hoped that including the last quarter’s results once they were in the average would rise to 40%.

He said there was a “flexibility” around recycling arrangements - whether a resident preferred a blue bin or a clear plastic bag - to encourage a higher uptake.

In some areas of the borough such as central Middlesbrough there are communal waste bins and communal recycling bins.

He said due to problems with some residents putting rubbish in the recycling it was discouraging the recyclers. He said that had been resolved by collecting the communal recycling bin and sorting it into waste and recycling so “the recycling efforts were not wasted by the few” who were filling them with non-recyclables.

Publicising how and what to recycle was part of the department’s action plan following the meeting in April. Mr Sherwood said they had produced a booklet at the time the bins were given out which was delivered to every household. A follow-up booklet has been created to pass on to residents in areas where contamination problems have occurred or for anyone who is unsure of what to recycle. He added the council’s website had been fully updated too.

Anyone with any questions regarding household waste can visit http://bit.ly/1DfkWWM or ring 01642 726001.