North East Lincolnshire Council is proposing to remove or replace some of its remaining ‘bring to’ recycling banks.
The Council currently has 28 recycling banks across North East Lincolnshire in locations such as supermarkets, housing estates and car parks.
They are there for householders to recycle reasonable amounts of cans, glass, paper and plastic.
When the Council last reviewed the sites in 2019 many were found to be underused and eight sites were removed.
Improvements to kerbside recycling collections made in 2020 have had a further impact on the use of bring to sites.
Most households now have two large recycling bins with much greater capacity than they had previously with the triple box system.
The amount of recycling left at the bring to sites has continued to decrease since the household recycling bins were introduced last year but many are used to illegally dump other kinds of rubbish such as fridges, building waste and food waste.
In addition, central government is expected to introduce new schemes to increase recycling and reduce packaging waste in the next few years.
As a result, a further review of the bring to recycling banks is needed.
Sites considered for closure in 2021
Twelve sites are being considered for closure in the autumn of 2021 and include:
- Beeson Street (reduced usage)
- Butt Lane, Laceby (quiet/poor use)
- Coniston Avenue shops (quiet/poor use)
- Seafront – Meridian Road (reduced usage, new litter and recycling bins installed nearby)
- Seafront – Pier (reduced usage, new litter and recycling bins installed nearby)
- Seafront – Brighton Slipway (reduced usage, new litter and recycling bins installed nearby)
- Seafront – Boating Lake (reduced usage, new litter and recycling bins installed nearby)
- Wybers shops (quiet/poor use).
Bring to recycling bins are set to be replaced with new litter bins for recycling at Greenlands in New Waltham, Hardy’s Road and Aldrich Road entrances to Haverstoe Park, and Hope Court in Cromwell Road.
Sites considered for closure in 2022
Four other sites are set to be removed by spring 2022 and include:
- Cromwell Road (frequent fly-tipping)
- Sainsbury’s Fisherman’s Wharf (frequent fly-tipping)
- Sutcliffe Avenue (frequent fly-tipping)
- Willows shops (frequent fly-tipping).
Eight further sites are set to be removed by autumn 2022 and include:
- Doughty Road
- Duchess Street
- Kennedy Way Immingham
- Kirkgate, Waltham
- St Peter’s Avenue
- Waltham Road car park
- Weelsby Woods.
Bring to sites are designed for recycling, but unfortunately some are misused by fly-tippers. CCTV cameras cover several recycling banks to deter people from dumping waste illegally.
When people illegally dump extra rubbish at the recycling banks it makes it difficult for council workers to empty the bins. Some of the waste can also attract rats and other pests.
Cllr Stewart Swinburn, portfolio holder for environment and transport at the Council, said:
“We have made massive improvements to household recycling collections in the last year.
“People now have much more capacity for recycling at home and are recycling more than ever.
“People are not using the bring to recycling banks as much as they used to, and many sites suffer from high levels of fly-tipping.
“The more problematic sites are a drain on resources as our staff have to be taken from their regular duties to clean up the mess left by fly-tippers.
“The need for these sites has reduced over time and in the next few years we are likely to see more initiatives from central government such as deposit return schemes that will reduce the need even more.
“Removing the sites gradually over the next year to 16 months will mean our staff waste less time clearing up fly-tips and help us focus our efforts on keeping the borough clean.”
Cabinet members meet to discuss the proposals on Wednesday 11 August.
Article and image from NELC.
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