Council encourages residents to recycle right

Through its shared waste service with Tamworth Borough Council, Lichfield District Council is once again urging its residents to ‘recycle right’ and waste less.

After a recent increase in loads being rejected by the recycling centre, the council is reminding householders across the district to follow its advice about what can and can’t go in blue bins.

To support this, the council will be putting stickers on blue bins to outline the materials that can be recycled and to ask residents not to bag up recycling.

In the past the council has accepted recycling in clear bags, but from now on the council will not collect any bagged up waste in blue bins. This is because it has been finding too much contaminated waste in bags once opened.

The stickers also remind households that only the following items can go in blue bins:

·         Paper, including newspaper, writing paper, envelopes and magazines

·         Cardboard

·         Plastic bottles, tubs and trays

·         Glass jars and bottles

·         Cans and tins

·         Aerosols

They also remind residents that recycling crews will continue to check blue bins, and cannot empty them if they contain materials that cannot be recycled or any bagged waste.

Councillor Richard Cox, Cabinet Member for Leisure, Parks & Waste, said: “We’re asking everyone to be extra careful about what they put in their recycling bins and not to bag up their blue bin waste.

“Our high recycling rates reflect residents’ hard work sorting their rubbish, but recently we’ve had a number of loads rejected by the recycling centre.

“The environmental impact of one contaminated bin can be huge, as it can cause an entire truckload to be rejected, meaning it all ends up in landfill or being incinerated. It’s also expensive - if the recent pattern continues it could cost us around £250,000 extra a year.

“Most residents are great at recycling, remembering to rinse out food and drink containers and not to bag up recycling. If you do want to use a bin liner in the home, simply tip out the recycling into your blue bin and re-use the bag.

“I hope we can bring our recycling efforts back up to previous standards. It will help our waste and recycling crews, save resources, and help the environment.”

To check what can and can’t go in your blue bin, go to www.lichfielddc.gov.uk/bluebins.