CHANGES to bin collections in North Somerset – including three-weekly collections – have started.
North Somerset Council (NSC) says the changes – which came into effect today (June 9) will “make recycling easier and reduce waste”.
The new collections include plastic bags and soft plastic wrapping being picked up as part of weekly household recycling collections, with households also potentially seeing new collection days, and black bin pick-ups going three-weekly.
Information packs outlining the new arrangements have been posted to every property.
As the changeover happens, a one-off Saturday collection has been arranged to help anyone who has a gap of more than three weeks between their old and new black bin collection day.
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Councillor Annemieke Waite, NSC cabinet member for planning and environment, said: “We want to make North Somerset a thriving and sustainable place to live, work and visit. As well as making recycling easier to protect the environment, our new recycling and waste collections service will also generate savings of over £1 million to fund vital local services.
“Having spoken to lots of residents over the past few months I know they’re really looking forward to being able to recycle plastic bags and soft plastic wrapping. If you’re recycling absolutely everything you can, there really will be very little left over that needs to go in the black bin.”
Plastic bags and soft plastic wrapping includes like crisp packets, film lids, plastic pouches and vegetable packaging and should be placed in the glass recycling box squashed into a bread bag or carrier bag and tied with a knot to squeeze all the air out.
The changes come after council analysis showed almost half (45 per cent) of waste previously put in black bins could have been recycled.
“Of the total waste being put in black bins, over a quarter (27 per cent) is food waste – and almost half of this is unopened food still in its packaging,” Cllr Waite said.
“As well as being an incredible waste of people’s money and the Earth’s resources, black bin waste costs a lot more to dispose of.”
To find out more about recycling and rubbish collections in North Somerset, visit www.n-somerset.gov.uk/foodwaste or www.n-somerset.gov.uk/threeweekly.
Residents who may struggle with the new three-weekly black bin collections due to medical needs, children in disposable nappies, or a larger household, may qualify for additional non-recyclable waste capacity.
An application form to request this will be available from the end of June, the council said.
There are no changes to garden waste collections.
READ MORE: Do three-weekly bin collections boost recycling?
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We have not had our recycling collected since it started as we are an assisted collection for the past 4 years. The teams have been wonderful until the new changes, when they won’t collect our recycling making up excuses. Is this a new team? On 9th they came at 6.30 and left our recycling but reported that they had picked it up? On 16th they said the gate was locked. I was waiting for a taxi to take me to the hospital for an operation and I saw them jump out, take our neighbours recycling and they didn’t even look at the gate. Which is never locked! Again leaving all our recycling. We have left many messages with the council waste team . Our recycling is just building up! Have you stopped the scheme to help disabled people? If so please inform us.