CAN YOU just use one blue bag a week? That’s the challenge being launched by Wokingham Borough Council leader in a bid to cut down on waste.
Now that the green recycling sacks have been adopted across the borough, complimented by the food waste collections, Cllr John Halsall wants residents to reduce the amount of rubbish sent to landfill.
And with supermarkets such as the Co-op introducing soft plastic recycling facilities, it’s even easier for people to help the environment.
The challenge is really straightforward: by reducing the number of blue bags collected across the borough every week, there will be fewer bags going to landfill.
Cllr Halsall said: “We are launching this to encourage our residents to join the blue bag challenge, and use just one blue bag every week.
“It’s not an exhortation, we’re not going to make you do it, but it’s challenge.”
He said that the green bags had been welcomed by residents after years of the open black boxes. The bags have a Velcro closing so the waste can be kept dry, making it easier to recycle.
“Our green bags are considered really quite well now,” Cllr Halsall explained. “In fact, I’ve had people complementing me on our system. Given the furore they caused, that’s good. They have also saved us a huge amount of money.”
He estimated this to be between £500,000 and £1 million a year.
He also hoped residents would use the food waste bins more.
“There’s only 15% of people who used these bins,” Cllr Halsall said. “If we can get it to 50%, we’ll be making a huge difference to what we can recycle.
“Recycling food waste means the rest of our waste is clean. That’s made a real difference.”
