GOVERNMENT plans to ask households to stop wishcycling won’t stop Wokingham Borough Council from bringing in wheelie bins for collections from next year.
Last week, the i newspaper revealed Whitehall proposals are being drawn up to ask people to stop putting unrecyclable items into recycling bins, including soft plastic bags, toothpaste tubes, crisp packets, wet cardboard, juice cartons, and dirty takeaway boxes.
These require specialist recycling facilities or contaminate general recycling.
It is expected the government’s plans will be published this summer, aimed at simplifying existing rules and creating a more universal system across councils. This is thought to include an obligation to collect glass bottles from the kerb and raised the spectre of homes having six different bins to put out.
The Local Government Association said some flexibility is needed as collections for a village would be different to collections for a tower block.
Waste collections in Wokingham are processed by re3, which acts on behalf of Reading, Bracknell Forest, and Wokingham borough councils.
As formal guidance has not yet been published it is unable to comment on the I’s report, but a spokesperson said that residents have been benefiting from advanced kerbside recycling collection for many years.
“Following on from recent successful initiatives, residents can recycle a wide range of plastic items, including bottles, pots, tubs, and trays, as well as cardboard, paper, tins, cans, cartons, and foil. They also have access to weekly food waste collection and an optional garden waste collection,” they said.
Each year, re3 processes more than 27,000 tonnes of dry recyclables at its Reading depot, with incorrect items removed, while all correct recyclable materials are separated by type. But almost one in six items are being classified as contamination.
“The most common contaminants are plastic bags and wrapping, along with glass and items contained within bags,” the spokesperson said.
As to the future, they said: “It is understood that the new guidance will require local authorities to collect the same set of materials from the kerbside, aiming to reduce confusion and minimise contamination.
“The re3 partnership, like other authorities, awaits further details on the new guidance.
“For now, we kindly ask all residents to adhere to the current guidance. Those who wish to recycle even more are encouraged to take all their plastic bags and wrapping to larger supermarkets that offer this service.
“If that is not possible, items such as crisp packets, carrier bags, and salad or confectionary wrappers must be disposed of in the residual bin.”
And Cllr Ian Shenton, executive member for environment, sport and leisure at Wokingham Borough Council said the council had worked hard to ensure recycling is easy for residents and as much as possible is collected.
“The market for recycling and reusing items in the UK is growing and we ensure all the materials we collect are responsibly recycled – most of it in the UK and a small proportion in Europe,” he said.
“We recycle many items that other councils don’t, including plastic pots, tubs and trays; cartons and Tetra Paks; and foil and foil trays. This means that our recycling naturally has less contamination than in many other areas.
“For items that we cannot recycle kerbside, we use our e-newsletters and social media to let residents know where they can recycle those items, like soft plastics. And we encourage residents to use the re3cyclopedia app, which allows you to look up where to recycle all sorts of different materials.”
As to the future, he said: “We know that the Government will be announcing detailed changes to the way local authorities will need to collect and recycle waste in the future, but we are pressing ahead with the changes to our collections next year as we know they will be better for us as a borough financially and they will improve our recycling rates, reduce our general rubbish and save carbon.”
