The council conducted a pilot kerbside scheme in a trial area covered households in the Spring Bank area of the city. Hull has received an 800,000 grant from DEFRA to expand its trial kerbside collection to an additional 60,000 properties.
The first phase of expansion will see 20,000 households in the Northern, Wyke and West areas receiving the black boxes. These parts of the city have been chosen because they had performed well in a previous blue box paper recycling scheme, one of the conditions of the DEFRA grant.
Councillor Daren Hale, cabinet member responsible for waste management, explained that kerbside collections are especially important for people without private transport. “Only 50% of residents in Hull have access to a car so many are not able to take advantage of larger recycling centres like Wilmington or those at local supermarkets,” he said.
“The doorstep recycling scheme has therefore proved to be very popular, offering greater choice for residents, whilst helping us to meet corporate objectives of removing dependency on landfill and involving the community in sustainable waste management schemes,” he added.
The fortnightly kerbside scheme collects glass, cans, aerosols, foil, plastic bottles and textiles. The council has invested in six new collection vehicles, each segregated into six compartments for material sorting at the kerbside. Information on the scheme's effectiveness is being gathered using a barcode system by Hull-based Computab and hand scanners from TMS Insight in Wolverhampton.
The boxes for the pilot scheme came from Blackwall but the council is expected to decide on the supplier of the additional 60,000 kerbside boxes with lids later this month.
The materials collected by the kerbside scheme are being taken by Waste Recycling Group under its contract with the council. Currently, the glass is going to UK Glass, the plastics to Reprieve and the cans and textiles are going to local companies.
Hull city council's recycling rate in 2001-02 was 6% and it has a 2003-04 target of 14%.
Wendy Holt, recycling officer for the council said: “We have been delighted with the success of the pilot scheme. The take up rate has exceeded expectations so far and several households have requested more than one box. The scheme is an essential part of our recycling plans and we need to get as many people involved as possible.”
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