And, at the same time, 30,000 standard wheeled bins supplied by Plastic Omnium will be rolled out to households and flats which were not included in the first phase (see letsrecycle.com story).
This means that by the end of February, all 195,000 houses in Liverpool will have access to fortnightly kerbside recycling collections for paper, card, cans, glass, plastic bottles and directories.
Liverpool city council's executive member for the environment, Councillor Berni Turner, said: “We started rolling out the blue bins nearly a year ago and initially included 100,000 households in the service, but we always knew the wheelie bin wasn't a ‘one size fits all' solution.
“Since the first roll out demand for the service from residents has rocketed, particularly from those living in smaller terraced properties, but the original 240 litre bin was just too big. So, we've listened to what everyone has had to say and created a specific box which will be perfect for these houses,” he added.
Targets
Government targets for 2008 state that Liverpool should recycle 20% of all waste collected, even though it only recorded a 12.7% recycling and composting rate for 2006/07.
However, with the new recycling service it is predicted that for the fist time the city's residents will be recycling and composting around 22% of their waste by the end of this year.
Material is collected by Liverpool's waste collection partner Veolia Environmental Services and sorted at a materials recycling facility in Bidston which is owned by the Merseyside Waste Disposal Authority.
Cllr Turner said: “We're already seeing fantastic results from the new recycling service and for the first time, Liverpool is set to exceed the 20% recycling target set for us by the government. The 60,000 additional properties should improve our rate even more and set us on the road to become one of the greenest cities in the UK.”
In order to improve its recycling performance even further, Liverpool council's recycling team is also currently trialling recycling for multi-occupancy properties such as flats.
Liverpool council's environment manager John Wrigley said: “We want every resident to have the best facilities available to recycle as much as they can and help us to exceed out targets. The response so far has been great and it's clear that people are making the most if the service as it's easy and convenient to use.”
