'Don't Bag Up Your Recycling'

 By Ben Aulakh

“Don't bag up your recycling, leave it loose in your bin” – that's the message Stratford-on-Avon District Council is sending out to householders in its area.

The District Council together with waste contractor Biffa have recently been working to reduce levels of non-recyclable material contaminating recycling collections, and issuing stickers on any problem bins.

Councillor Chris Saint, Leader of Stratford-on-Avon District Council said, “We have listened to public concerns regarding our recent attempts to improve recycling in the District.

“While we are still committed to reducing contamination we are looking to work with our residents to make sure that they fully understand our recycling scheme.”

Cllr Saint added that one of the council’s biggest problems is that they cannot currently recycle plastic bags; therefore it is important that any material placed in the blue-lidded wheelie bins is not disposed of in such containers.

He went on, “We are already one of the top ten recycling authorities in the country and if we all work together on this it will continue to reduce the amount of waste sent to landfill saving the environment and tax payer's money.”

The top five contamination items that are most commonly found in bins are plastic bags, expanded polystyrene, film wrap, hard plastic items, shoes and textiles.

The District Council has listened to homeowners concerns on the issue, they are now giving people a period of grace between now and the end of September to allow them to again familiarise themselves with the scheme. 

During this period advice stickers will be used to inform residents about contamination in bins.

The council are keen to stress that the only materials that can be placed in the bins are paper, cardboard, packaging material, glass, tins and cans, plastic packaging and aluminium foil.

More information on this and ideas on ways to reuse items that you no longer need can be found on the District Council's website.