Councillors asked to approve £3m investment in additional recycling bin for Shropshire households
Councillors will next week (Thursday 13 January 2022) be asked to formally approve the rollout of an additional wheelie bin for recycling cans, glass and plastic at the kerbside – and to approve an investment of almost £3m to fund the extra bin.
The plans were agreed by Shropshire Council’s Cabinet in July 2021, but the funding has to be approved by a meeting of the full Council.
If the funding is agreed, residents will be able to start requesting a bin, with the first bins set to be delivered from May this year.
The bin – which would be optional and free – would replace the existing black recycling boxes, and help to increase the amount of waste recycled by providing households with a larger container.
It would also reduce the amount of waste lost to the recycling process after being blown out of the boxes on windy days,
It would make the storage of recycling more convenient for residents, and reduce the amount of bending and lifting for residents and waste and recycling crews.
Assuming that just over 140,000 households (96.7%) request a bin, the total cost of providing them would be £2.93m.
Ian Nellins, Shropshire Council’s Cabinet member with responsibility for waste and recycling, said
“The news of an extra bin for recycling has been warmly welcomed by residents across Shropshire and I know many people are eager to have one as soon as possible. If Full Council agrees on 13 January to fund the rollout, people will be able to order their bin, with the first bins being delivered to homes in May.
“The provision of a bin for recycling is a direct response to residents’ comments and requests – and is a pledge we made in our election manifesto last year.
“It’s clear that it’s something that many people want, and it’s something that will help us to boost the amount of waste that is recycled in Shropshire.
“It won’t be compulsory to have a bin. Some people may not have room for one, or may prefer to keep using their kerbside boxes, but we’re confident that many people will want to take up this opportunity.”
Some households may not want a bin due to housing layout or the lack of storage space for the bin. These residents would be able to continue to use their existing waste containers, as will those residents who simply prefer to use boxes.
Further information
Council is requested to approve the capital investment estimated to be £2.932 million required to deliver this scheme, as an addition to Shropshire Council’s current capital programme.
The bin would be 240 litres, the same as those in standard use for general waste and garden waste. It will be a different colour, to differentiate it from the other bins in use.
Residents would be encouraged to retain and reuse the existing collection boxes for different purposes.
A customer satisfaction survey for the waste service conducted in 2018 included the question “What would make it easier to recycle at home?”. 45% of the responses stated that this would be achieved by the use of a wheeled bin for recycling.
Further to this local interest, the latest Government recycling tables for English councils show that all of the top five performing councils (Three Rivers, Vale of White Horse, South Oxfordshire, East Riding of Yorkshire, and St Albans) use a bin for collecting dry recycling.
In 2020/21 Veolia collected 17,000 tonnes of plastics, glass, and metals from the kerbside in the Shropshire Council area.
