Three-bin collection system for East Lindsey

The Lincolnshire district is replacing black sacks and blue recycling boxes for 63,000 homes by April with a three-bin system. This will include a grey bin for dry recyclables, a green bin for green waste and a black bin for residual waste.

Three new wheeled bins being delivered to a house in East Lindsey

The roll out, which is already in its third phase, is timed to coincide with a switch to alternate weekly collections of recycling and residual waste.

Both changes follow the council's decision to take over waste collections from waste firm Service Team, whose contract ended in April.

The new bins are being delivered by manufacturer Otto (UK) Limited in partnership with the council.

East Lindsey hopes that by providing 180 litre bins for residual waste and 240 litre bins for recycling and composting it will encourage residents to recycle more waste and divert it from landfill.

The council recycled 20% of its waste in 2005/06 and hopes to meet a 28% recycling target for 2006/07.

“Easy to use”
Cllr Edginton, portfolio holder for the environment at East Lindsey, said: “When the council reviewed its waste collection system back in 2004/05, members agreed that to meet future government recycling targets the chosen system should be contained within the budget, easy to use and achieve an equality of service for every household.

“The new wheelie bin service means all of these aims and in so doing, reduces the amount of waste being dumped in local landfill sites”, he added.

Adam Lech, service manager for waste strategy and projects at the council, said that some households already covered by the scheme had already achieved a 50% recycling rate.

He said: “Our area is very spread out rurally so it is a massive challenge we have taken on. But the changes have been received really well because the scheme has been well thought out. We've got a big communication campaign and strategy going that includes promotional roadshows, calendars for residents and a recycling hotline. There have been very few complaints.”