East Staffordshire Borough Council’s new recycling collection scheme has now been in place for five months and all residents should have received their new larger blue bag for mixed paper and cardboard recycling.
If residents are in need of a new blue bag or need an additional bag, please call 0800 269098 or email environment@eaststaffsbc.gov.uk.
Within the first month of this new service, collection crews collected 231 tonnes of paper and card, with this increasing to over 250 tonnes for September 2022.
Feedback from the Council’s recycling processor has so far been positive about the quality of the material delivered to them, however, there is still some level of contamination within blue wheelie bins. The Council’s collection crews continue to carry out visual checks of blue bin and bag contents before they are collected. If incorrect items are found, the bin or bag will not be emptied.
Further information on what recycling can be placed in blue wheelie bins can be found at http://www.eaststaffsbc.gov.uk/bins-rubbish-recycling/blue-bin.
Cllr Ray Faulkner, Cabinet Member for Environment and Climate Change, said: “I am pleased to see residents adapting to the changes in the Council’s recycling service and I urge all residents to become familiar with how and where they can recycle their waste correctly. The Council is committed to providing a high quality bin collection service, with the introduction of blue bags improving the recycling process.
Ensuring cardboard is removed from other dry recycling is extremely important as small fragments of glass may contaminate cardboard, thereby rendering it unsuitable for recycling.”
Collection crews collect and empty blue bags and bins into a split bodied collection vehicle before delivering the material to a Waste Transfer Station. The recycling is then taken for sorting to a recycling facility in Birmingham where it is separated into different material streams and then sent on for further processing.
Further information on the Council’s recycling process can be found at https://www.eaststaffsbc.gov.uk/bins-rubbish-recycling/what-happens-to-your-recycling.