The council is the second local authority in the UK to sign up to the programme which allows recycling scheme operators to lease a MacLift ‘Kerbside Kollector’ vehicle and LINPAC Environmental Kerbside Collection Boxes for a period of six months or more.
Durham has chosen to use Kerbstart for a yearlong glass and paper collection scheme covering 13,000 properties around the city. Since starting the trial in May, recovery of recyclable materials has risen to 14% – 10% more than was achieved using bring schemes.
The MacLift Kerbside Kollector vehicle has six separate compartments allowing the crew to separate glass into three colours and use the other three compartments for paper which is the bulkier commodity.
Durham City Council Recyling Supervisor, David Carpenter said he was pleased with the success of the scheme: “Public support for the scheme has been fantastic and in some areas participation is as high at 90%. Residents have been very keen to get involved and those in areas that are not covered by the present pilot are contacting us to find out when they will have the opportunity to do their bit.
“Kerbstart has been ideal for our needs and has given us a no obligation way of ‘dipping our toe in the water’ before committing to the capital outlay involved in purchasing the vehicle and boxes needed to establish a scheme.”
The success of the Kerbstart pilot has prompted the council to look at rolling out the Kerbside collection scheme citywide. It is also considering expanding the scheme to collect other recyclable commodities.
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