Mendip will be the first area to receive the new service from June 2020, after Suez takes over waste and recycling services within the borough from existing contractor Kier in April of the same year. An initial 51,000 households will receive the new service from June 2020.
Suez will be collecting waste and recycling from more than 250,000 households across the whole of Somerset through the Recycle More service through the contract which is valued at £210 million. In addition to existing weekly recycling and food waste collections, Suez will roll out the collection of extra materials each week and switch residual waste from fortnightly to three-weekly.
The new service will roll out to other parts of Somerset over the following 18 months. Timing details will be released later, Somerset Waste Partnership has said, with every home in the county to be sent full details of the new service.
The new kerbside collections service will also see a range of extra materials added to weekly recycling collections: household and food plastic pots, tubs and trays, Tetra Paks and other beverage cartons, small electrical items and household batteries.
Material
Somerset Waste Partnership managing director, Mickey Green, said: “Our new Recycle More service will enable people not only to recycle a wider range of plastic at the kerbside every week, but also Tetra Paks and other beverage cartons, small electrical items and batteries. Combined with our move away from landfill for the little waste that can’t be recycled, this will further improve Somerset’s already impressive environmental performance.
“With more plastic pots, tubs and trays being taken to our 16 recycling sites than ever before, we know that public appetite to be able to recycle more remains strong.
“With these changes still nine months away, we’ll share much more information nearer the time, but in the meantime the full details of Recycle More can be found on our website. We’re looking forward to delivering this in partnership with our new contractor, the experienced waste and recycling specialists Suez.”
Somerset Waste Board vice-chair Cllr Claire Paul, added: “We remain committed to enabling Somerset residents to recycle as much as possible, and to ensuring that all our recycling is looked after properly – as demonstrated in SWP’s pioneering annual ‘Beyond the kerb – Recycling to Resources’ report, which tracks what happens and where to every tonne of recycling.
“With a change of this scale, it’s important we manage it carefully and support residents through this change.”
Register for free to comment