Although ECT has been traditionally against collecting plastics at the kerbside due to cost, 87% of residents requested the service in a public consultation last year, showing huge demand for the service.
The plastic recycling scheme is just one part of a £3.2 million waste and recycling improvement programme in Ealing (see letsrecycle.com story), which the council hopes will boost its 25% recycling rate by 5% by early next year.
Ealing's cabinet member for the environment and street services Will Brooks said: “Thanks to our residents' response to our new and improved recycling service we are moving quickly in the right direction and recycling more.
“With a further £3.8 million invested in these services this year we have set an ambitious target to recycle 30% of the borough's waste by Spring 2008,” he added.
Service
Under Ealing's new recycling service, all refuse and recycling is being collected on the same day and there is same-day pick up for missed refuse collections reported before 5pm.
Residents are also receiving weekly as opposed to fortnightly collections of green waste, which are being collected by fourteen new recycling vehicles from Hoover. Costing £1.7 million, they have two compartments which allow the council to collect plastic and green waste at the same time.
Free council wheeled bins have also been delivered to more than 15,000 homes in the Southall area, after a major consultation identified it as the most suitable neighbourhood.
Other new services include a mixed recycling scheme for 1,000 flats and an appointment-based bulky waste collection service which promises to be twice as fast as the old service.
Council leader Jason Stacey said: “It is very exciting that the new services have started to be rolled out. Early indications are that plastic recycling is proving to be popular and that residents are taking full advantage of the new services available.
“It's only a year since we first asked people what they wanted us to do to improve waste and recycling, and its great that we've been able to introduce these widespread improvements in such a relatively short amount of time, ” he explained.
Dan Waltzer, technical at ECT recycling, welcomed the extra investment in services.
He said: “ECT is delighted with the council's investment, our teams can now provide improved services to the borough's residents including recycling plastics and more weekly collections. People will see how much they are recycling on a regular basis and may be surprised by hoe little needs to be thrown away as waste.”
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