Newcastle undergoes recycling overhaul

The council is one of the first in the UK to use a caddy system for its recycling collections, with the inner caddy used to store glass and batteries, and the main wheeled bin for paper, cardboard, plastic bottles, cans and textiles.

A spokesman for the local authority explained the council's reasons for choosing the caddy system. “The glass caddy system means we can keep glass and other recycled waste apart,” he told letsrecycle.com. “It also cuts down on lifting and means householders only have to deal with one bin, rather than a bin and a separate box.”

The new wheeled system will replace the city council's existing recycling collection system which uses a 55 litre bin to store source separated materials including glass, plastic bottles, cans, textiles and batteries, and saw the council achieve a 25.81% recycling and composting rate in 2006-07.

The changes will be accompanied by a £1.35 million investment in nine new vehicles to collect the bins, at a cost of £150,000 each.

Last month, the authority began a roll-out of 90,000 240 litre blue bins, and accompanying 40 litre inner caddies, which are both manufactured by Straight; a process that will continue at a rate of 13,000 households per month until February 2009.

And, it has now unveiled plans to become the first council to use a smaller 120 litre bin, along with a specially-designed 20 litre caddy, which will be introduced for 10,000 households across the city in November 2009.

The smaller bins and caddies are intended for use by small households or those with limited storage space, with the smaller caddy being developed by Straight following discussions with the city council over a means to increase the source separation of materials.

Les Clark, Newcastle city council's head of sustainability, explained: “We are currently in the process of modifying recycling services across the city.

“Although most homes will use a 240 litre wheeled bin and a 40 litre inner caddy for recycling, there is a small minority of households, approximately 10%, that will use 140 litre wheeled bin and require a smaller insert.”

“These homes tend to single person households or areas where space may be limited,” he added. “Straight's new 20 litre inner caddy is the ideal solution for residents using the 140 litre wheeled bin. It means that we are able to offer the same comprehensive recycling scheme to residents using the smaller bin.”

Materials collected in the bins are sent for sorting at a Materials Recycling Facility in Wallsend, which lies within the boundaries of neighbouring council North Tyneside.

With the city council operating its recycling collections in-house, the service changes have also seen the introduction of 39,000 more brown wheeled bins for garden waste collections, bringing the number of households with that service to 54,000.

Newcastle's long term target is to increase its recycling rate to 55% by 2020.