As much as £390,000 has been set aside for new recycling bags and food waste caddies ahead of changes to rubbish collections.
As first reported by Wokingham Today on January 12, Wokingham Borough Council is to stock up on spares as it also prepares to deliver wheelie bins to homes across the borough.
From August, recycling and general waste will be collected separately on alternating weeks. Blue general waste bags will also be replaced for most homes with wheeled bins.
The council agreed to spend nearly £2 million on the rollout, including £1.5 million to buy and distribute the new bins.
But council officers say that they’ve spent some £390,000 less than they’d budgeted for – and asked for permission to use any savings to stock up on recycling bags and kitchen caddies for anyone who needs a replacement, as well as to cover unforeseen costs.
Council officer Richard Bisset said the council already had a stock of 80,000 replacement green bags and ‘a number of kitchen caddies.’ But he added it was ‘prudent’ to stock up.
He said: “This is a prudent approach to ensure we have the right amount of containers ready prior to distribution.”
“There could be additional demand and therefore we would go through all those 80,000 but we’re not 100 per cent sure at the moment.” He stressed any spending would come from money already budgeted for the changes – and wasn’t extra spending.
Councillor Ian Shenton – responsible for rubbish collections – formally approved the spending on Monday, January 15.
