Thousands of homes in North East Lincolnshire are receiving new wheelie bins as part of a massive recycling transformation.
About 150,000 new bins will arrive at homes in the area during the next few months. The new bins replace existing recycling boxes. Households are being told to start using the bins as soon as they arrive.
All households should receive a letter between 13 and 18 July to let them know the new bins are on their way. Collection days will remain the same for most homes until early 2021.
A specialist delivery company is delivering bins to about 4,000 homes per week between the end of July and late Autumn. All households will receive an instructional leaflet with their new bins.
There are no changes to green bin collections for household waste, garden waste or collections from communal bins.
Councillor Stewart Swinburn, portfolio holder for Environment and Transport at North East Lincolnshire Council, said: “We listened to what you told us when we consulted on changes to recycling collections.
“Two bins for recycling had the highest number of people who said they strongly support it.
“It’s clear to me that people in our area care a great deal about the environment. With these new bins we’re making it easier for people to recycle more and waste less.
“This is a massive change, probably the biggest change for waste and recycling collections since the Council introduced wheelie bins for household waste more than 20 years ago. We’re taking a phased approach to introduce the new bins one collection round at a time. The first phase is to deliver the bins before the busy Christmas holiday period. This means collection dates remain the same for most households and there are no changes to the materials we’re collecting.
“During the early stages of the lockdown our crews collected much more paper and card as people shopped more online. The new bins make it easier for people to recycle more at this time and through the festive season.”
The Council is contacting households without a front garden to give them the option of using the new bins. Collection data from the bin rounds is being analysed during the next few months to see how they can be made as efficient as possible. The second phase of the project starts in the New Year after that work is finished. That’s when the Council will start taking a wider range of plastics and collection dates will change.
More details about these changes will be published nearer the time. The final phase is a food waste trial for about 4,500 properties starting in the spring. The Government has indicated it wants all councils to collect food waste separately by 2023. More details at www.nelincs.gov.uk/bins
What happens to existing recycling boxes?
Households can keep their recycling boxes, either as storage containers or for other uses. Old, unwanted boxes can be returned to the Community Recycling Centres in Grimsby or Immingham, or bin crews will take them if they are left with the new recycling bins on the first recycling collection day.
What goes in the bins?
People can help by making sure the recycling is put in the right bin when it arrives.
• Paper and card goes in the blue wheelie bin. It replaces the blue box.
• Plastic bottles, food tins and drink cans and glass bottles and jars go in the grey wheelie bin.
The Council will start collecting a wider variety of plastics early next year, but until then the only plastics taken are plastic bottles.
You said – we listened
At the end of last year, the Council invited people to give their views on its new waste strategy and how it might collect recycling in future.
More than 4,800 people responded – the highest response rate the Council has ever had for a public consultation.
It was clear from the results that most people care about the environment and what happens to their rubbish and recycling.
- People said they couldn’t recycle as much as they wanted because the old recycling boxes weren’t fit for purpose.
- They also said that the streets look a mess when the boxes tip over and the recycling blows away.
The most strongly supported option in the public consultation was to replace the boxes with two recycling bins, collected monthly. The Council is now rolling out the option that was most strongly supported.
By 2035 the Government wants councils to only collect 35 per cent of the waste from households as general household rubbish and 65 per cent as recycling.
Article and photo, showing Councillor Swinburn and Chris Dunn, deputy head of operations, with the two new bins and one of the existing green bins, from NELC.
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