Plans to improve recycling rates in Nottingham could see the size of general waste bins reduced, a public consultation on the plans states. Nottingham City Council has outlined its plans for how waste and recycling could be collected differently to improve recycling rates, save resources and reduce carbon emissions.
It comes as the Government has set out new targets to increase recycling rates to 65 percent by 2035, while keeping landfill rates below 10 percent. The city council currently sends around eight percent of waste to landfill. But it says recycling rates “need to be improved significantly from the current level of 23.9 percent, to reach the Government’s target”.
The city council says it will struggle to meet its carbon-neutral targets without ensuring more residents recycle. Food waste collection and standardisation of recycling collection systems will become obligatory – and a food waste trial in the city is due to start in early 2023.
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“When the new system is implemented, the council may consider issuing smaller general rubbish bins,” according to consultation details issued by Nottingham City Council.
“As food waste makes up more than 30 percent of the rubbish in Nottingham’s bins, the city council is also proposing to provide smaller bins for general waste to help encourage residents to separate their recycling and reduce the amount thrown away.”
Councillor Sally Longford, portfolio holder for energy, environment and waste services, said any new system will be implemented gradually.
The consultation on the plans adds that “a larger bin could be retained for larger households”. The consultation asks residents if they could manage with a general waste three quarters of the size of their current bin – given the plans for food waste collection and extra recycling provision.
It adds: “The best performing options for reducing carbon emissions (and increase recycling) are to provide smaller bins for general rubbish, thereby encouraging more separation of waste for recycling, and less for disposal. In order to hit the highest recycling rates (e.g. over 40%) some restriction of the quantity of residual waste collected is likely to be required – this approach is undertaken in several cities e.g. Manchester, Bristol, Cardiff.
“Food waste comprises over a third of the typical residual waste bin and a weekly food waste collection combined with a wider range of materials collected for recycling would accompany any proposed change to the size of your general rubbish bin.” The public consultation on the draft Municipal Resources and Waste Strategy 2023-2050 opened last week and is available until December 14, 2022.
The strategy sets out two ways in which recycling could be collected. One idea would see two recycling containers: paper and card would be collected separately in a reusable bag from other recyclable materials which would continue to be collected in a wheelie bin.
The second option would see multiple recycling containers introduced, with separate containers provided to collect paper and card, plastics and cans, and glass. Cllr Longford said the plans would be rolled out gradually from the beginning of next year. She said: “We are aiming to be the first carbon-neutral city in the country and with our current levels of recycling we will struggle to get there.
“Compared to other parts of the country we do a poor job, it’s not good enough. We’ve got to tackle it and the Government changing the regulations has given us the perfect opportunity to launch the consultation. The food waste collection is what quite a lot of people would like to see reintroduced.”
When asked about the possibility of waste bins being reduced in size, she added: “If people are recycling more and we’ve got rid of the food waste element, there should be less waste in the bin and that means we can use smaller bins. Talking from a personal perspective, I recycle everything I can think of and I compost food waste so what I put in my residual bin is a small amount.
“I don’t expect everybody to do that but in the long term, it would be good. If you’ve got a House in Multiple Occupation, it’s probably not practical to reduce the size of the bin so there will be different solutions for different households. It’s not about finding a solution that will work for everyone.
“I’m not about to remove all the big bins but perhaps over a period of time, we can go down to smaller bins. For the people who are anxious about it, we can support them as we go.”
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