Residents in Blaby, Charnwood, Harborough, Hinckley & Bosworth, Melton and Oadby & Wigston will able be to present the same selection of materials at the kerbside. The consistent collections are due to all recycling from these areas now being taken to the Casepak Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) in Braunstone Frith, Leicester.
Beverley Jolly, joint chief executive of Harborough district council and Leicestershire districts’ lead on waste said: “It’s been a source of some frustration to Leicestershire residents for some time that items that can be recycled by some councils cannot be recycled by others.
“It’s also an issue that WRAP, the national waste and resources action programme, is keen to tackle as their research says that inconsistency leads to confusion and puts people off recycling so we were keen to work together to produce a single list for recycling that applies countywide.
“We really hope this will make recycling easier than ever for Leicestershire residents, leading to more recycling and less waste going to landfill.”
“We really hope this will make recycling easier than ever for Leicestershire residents, leading to more recycling and less waste going to landfill.”
Despite the consistency from most councils in the county, North West Leicestershire will continue to send its recycling to a depot in Coalville.
Environment Bill
The harmony across Leicestershire is in line with regulations on consistent collections due to be set out in the government’s Environment Bill.
In July Defra published a ‘summer policy statement’ which named the core set of materials the consistency measures will cover – these are glass bottles and containers, paper and card, plastic bottles, plastic pots, tubs and trays and steel and aluminium tins and cans. (see letsrecycle.com story)
In Leicestershire cartons and Tetrapaks will also be accepted as part of the consistent collections. Defra said they would consider including these materials in their regulations, but did not commit to it.
A draft version of the Environment Bill was published in December 2018, but it is yet to be introduced in the House of Commons.
Contamination
Leicestershire and Casepak are also hoping to increase the quality of the recycling they collect with the launch of a campaign to tackle contamination in the county’s recycling.
The ‘Don’t let your recycling go to waste’ campaign began at the beginning of September and offers advice on how to avoid putting incorrect items in the recycling bin.
Around 55,000 tonnes of recyclable material from Leicestershire councils is sent to Casepak’s MRF every year, but there has been a recent spike in contaminated loads. Disposable nappies and food waste have been identified as particular problems.
Georgina Cullen, Business Development Director at Casepak, said the programme wanted to help households get the most out of their recycling.
She added: “Just a few small changes, like washing out bottles and jars, can make a huge difference to the quality of the material we are able to recycle.
“If each household did their bit to combat contamination it would help ease the burden, as materials wouldn’t be entering the recycling stream.
Members of staff at the 165,000 tonne Casepak MRF are featuring in a series of adverts as part of the campaign.
Anti-contamination campaigns have also been launched this year by Ashford council and the North London Waste Partnership. (see letsrecycle.com story)
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