The six-month trial, which is being undertaken in partnership with The Salvation Army, was launched on Monday (March 3) and sees residents given recycling bags for the separate collection of recyclable grade textiles which includes clothing, shoes and home furnishings which are not suitable for reuse.
The trial is being funded by the Waste & Resource Action Programme (WRAP) by a 19,000 grant as part of its Collection of Recycling Grade Textiles scheme.
Three different bags will be used for the trial: a green bag; a blue bag; and a Salvation Army branded bag. Residents will be allocated a bag by the district council which will establish which is most effective as the trial progresses. At present, recyclable grade textiles are collected at kerbside in green bags with other commingled recyclables. They are then removed at a materials recycling facility (MRF) at the front end of the process.
South Holland district council waste and recycling officer Laura Simpkins told letsrecycle.com: Residents can put in reusable material but obviously we dont want to deter them from going to charity shops as well. At the moment we have got a green bag collection service for our commingled recycling items and textiles are put in there…we are separating the commingled mixed recyclables from textiles. If we collect textiles separately they are worth a bit more to The Salvation Army when it gets to their depot because they dont go through the MRFs.
Ms Simpkins said the council does not receive revenue for the material at present but added that there is the opportunity to receive a small amount in the future depending on the tonnages collected. She noted that at 1,800 tonnes of textiles are currently disposed of in South Holland which could be recycled or reused. By collecting them separately the council could find cost savings from landfill tax and gate fees.
Discussing why the council is trialling three coloured bags, Ms Simpkins said: There are scam textile collectors in the area so we are trying to see how the residents respond to the bags and we hope that if the textiles are in council bags there might be less chance of theft.
Collection
The trial will take place in the Pennygate area of Spalding, Gosberton, Quadring, Holbeach Hurn, Holbeach St Marks, Holbeach St Matthew, Fleet, Fleet Hargate and Gedney Drove End. The bags will be collected on a weekly basis in a van which will follow one of the councils recycling collection vehicles. This method of collection will be reviewed after eight weeks.
Once collected the material will be taken to The Salvation Army Trading Companys (SATCoL) depot in Kettering, Northamptonshire where it will be sorted. Material which is suitable for reuse will be distributed to charity shops for sale in the UK or exported. Material which is not suitable for reuse will be shredded for use as mattress filling or industrial wipers.
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