Plummeting use to see Leicester remove recycling banks

Leicester council currently provides recycling banks at 62 locations.

Most sites offer a glass recycling bank, while 27 offer paper and cardboard recycling.

The council began collecting paper, card and glass at the kerbside after introducing its orange bag service in 2011.

Last year, a record 18,000 tonnes of recycling was collected from the city’s orange bag service.

Just 88 tonnes of paper and 137 tonnes of glass was collected from the city’s recycling bank sites, down from 450 and 375 tonnes dropped off at the sites respectively in 2010.

Now, Leicester will remove the old sites and install new facilities at 18 locations, where people will be able to recycle both glass and paper and cardboard.

The council says that by changing the type of bin used at the recycling bank sites, they can be emptied by the same Biffa vehicles that empty household bins, “taking a specialist vehicle off the road and reducing the carbon impact of the recycling collections”.

‘Tired’

Deputy city mayor Cllr Adam Clarke, who leads on environment and transport, said: “The current recycling bank arrangements have been in place for many years.

“Since 2011, fewer and fewer people have been using these bring banks to recycle their waste paper, cardboard and glass, preferring the convenience of the orange bag scheme.

“As a result, the existing network of bring banks no longer represent an efficient or cost-effective way of helping people recycle.

“Many of the bring bank sites are barely used and starting to look a bit tired. We want to address by revamping and improving facilities at key sites across the city and removing any existing bring banks that are no longer needed.”

Textiles

The city’s 36 textiles recycling banks, which the council will continue to manage, will be unaffected.

Leicestershire council said use of these banks has grown considerably in the last ten years. In 2010, just under 100 tonnes of textiles was collected from the banks. Last year, this was over 460 tonnes.

Notices will be placed on all of the recycling banks due to be removed and work to remove or replace them with modern alternatives will be carried out over the coming weeks.