It is aiming for 20,000 households are set to be on the new system by February 2005. Plastic, paper, cardboards and tins will be collected in a green wheeled bin with glass in a green box on one week and residual waste in a wheeled bin on the other.
Councillors in the Nottinghamshire borough decided to expand the scheme after a successful trial of 3,500 households in Ravenshead and Burton Joyce.
Joy Kirby, waste management officer at the council told letsrecycle.com: “A satisfaction survey of the three and a half thousand homes on the trial scheme saw a third of the households reply. We found out that 92% of the people that replied were really happy with the scheme.”
The trial area achieved a recycling rate of 45%, a significantly above Gedling's 2003/04 household recycling rate of 15.3%.
For the roll out, Gedling council has purchased 45,000 wheeled bins from PM Onboard, which are equipped with on-board weighing system.
Ms Kirby said that the council has not started using the weighing system yet but plans to use the information it gathers to target poor performing areas with publicity and information on the recycling collections.
She added that the council is looking into the possibility of expanding its green waste collections from a third of households to borough-wide to help residents reduce the waste in their residual bin. “The garden waste collection scheme is being reviewed to look at ways that we can include the remainder of the Borough. At this time it is unsure if a free collection service will be possible,” said Ms Kirby.
At the moment, the dry recyclables are being taken to Nottinghamshire's current waste contractor. But Nottinghamshire county council is currently in the procurement process for a 26-year waste disposal contract worth 500 million, including 32 million PFI support from the government (see letsrecycle.com story) which will also cover recycling.
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