The council changed from a weekly bag collection of paper and plastic to a box collection of paper and glass in May 2003. The council decided to invest in boxes as part of a new 2.5 million recycling scheme which also included the refurbishment of its Chalvey recycling centre.
The council also used the funding to invest heavily in bring sites and plastics should now be taken to bring banks, where glass was originally going. However, there has been some confusion caused by the new system as some residents have continued to put out plastic in their boxes.
Michael Houston, recycling officer at the council, said: “We want to encourage residents to take plastic to the bring banks and for us to collect the heavier things. We're also introducing cans later this year which we will also be collecting.”
He added: “Some people were used to the old system and continued to put plastic bottles in the boxes. But we are working to improve the message put out by the council to stop this.”
As well as the leaflets that went out with the boxes, the council is continuing to visit residents' meetings to get the message across. During the launch in May, the council also got local press coverage and a council officer went on local radio. The council's collection contractor, Slough Accord, has courtesy notes to put through letter boxes of people who put plastic in their kerbside boxes, thus directly targeting problem residents.
Targets
The bag system delivered a 9% recycling rate with a total rate for 2002-03 of 13%. The council's targets are 22% by 2003-2004.
“The problem with the bags was that people had to actively go and request bags. Now everybody has a box. We estimated that only 20% of our residents regularly used the bag scheme,” said Mr Houston.
The council views the new scheme as more sustainable. An information leaflet issued to households said: “If we were to use bags to reach our recycling target we would need to supply 3,000,000 bags to residents every year. By issuing boxes made of recycled plastic which are reused weekly we are helping to save resources.”
Despite the difficulties encountered, the council is seeing its collections increase. “We are still working out tonnages. It is difficult at the minute as the scheme is new and not all of the borough is on the new scheme. It looks as though collected recycling is up 20%, however, on what we were doing previously,” Mr Houston said.
Slough's collected paper is going to a packaging manufacturer, the glass is going to Grundon before being made into road aggregates and the plastics are going to Grundon's material recycling facility in Beenham.
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