The roll out of the new recycling service will begin from Monday next week (August 1) and includes changes that will incorporate plastic bottles, cardboard and textiles into collections.
Residents’ waste and recyclables are collected via a grey food waste caddie, a black wheeled bin for residual waste, a green box for recycling and a green wheeled bin for garden waste.
Currently green box collections include glass bottles and jars, steel and aluminium tins and cans, aerosol cans, newspapers and magazines, and batteries. But the change to the service will also now incorporate plastic bottles, cardboard and textiles.
The changes also mean collections of residents’ dry recycling will increase from fortnightly to weekly. Waste management company Biffa is handling the changes.
Vehicles
In addition, Biffa will deploy a new fleet of 10 vehicles to make collections more efficient. The DAF LF45 chassis with Romaquip Kerbsort bodies can collect food waste and dry recyclables on the same round.
Councillor Marrilyn Smart, cabinet member for environment, said: “Next week marks an exciting new chapter for kerbside recycling in the district. We are delighted to be expanding the materials which residents can recycle from the kerbside, particularly for plastic bottles and cardboard, which we know some residents have struggled to take to their local banks for recycling in the past.
“From next week residents need to present their paper and cardboard altogether in their new blue woven bag and use two green recycling boxes for their other materials. One box should be used for plastic bottles, tins, cans and aerosols, whilst a second box should be used for glass and textiles. The textiles should be bagged before placing them in the second recycling box.
“We have been working with our waste contractor Biffa to implement these changes, which have been possible due to new recycling vehicles being available on the market. The new Romaquip fleet will allow the collected recycling to be kept separate on the vehicle thereby maintaining the quality of what it is collected, which is why we are asking residents to use both their bag and boxes to put their items out.”
WEEE
Forest of Dean district council is also introducing fortnightly WEEE collections. Items such as toasters, kettles, irons, dvd players, cameras, hand-held power tools and mobile and digital phones will be collected.
The authority confirmed these items will be collected the same week as refuse collections and should be presented in a standard-sized carrier bag and left on top of a black wheelie bin.
In December of last year the authority agreed to extend its waste contract with Biffa, in a deal worth an estimated £18 million, which will see the company service the district for a further six years after its contract ends in July 2018 (see letsrecylce.com story).
Biffa suggested at the time the contract extension comes as a “vote of confidence.” The firm has provided waste services to Forest of Dean district since 1989 – servicing some 38,000 households in the area.
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