New look recycling hits the streets next week
Households across Ealing have less than a week to wait for the launch of Ealing Council’s new multi-million pound waste and recycling services.
The £3.8million package of improvements will be rolled out across the borough from Monday, 19 November. The revamp will bring single day collections for all refuse and recycling and same day pick-up for missed refuse collections reported to the Council by 5pm.
From 19 November local people will be able to recycle plastic through the weekly household collection services. In a consultation held by the Council last year, 87% of residents asked for plastic recycling to be introduced. Although all plastic (with the exception of garden furniture and toys) will be collected by Council contractor ECT, residents are being asked to keep plastic separate from all other recycling as it will be picked up by a different vehicle. Plastics will then be sorted so that as many items as possible are recycled with non-recyclable products taken out for disposal.
A new weekly garden waste collection service will also begin on 19 November. Collections will be on the same day as refuse and recycling collections, replacing the current fortnightly service. Re-usable garden sacks will replace disposable pink sacks which will be phased out by Spring 2008. Three new re-usable sacks will be delivered to homes eligible for household recycling from 19 November to early in the New Year.
And, as part of the Council’s mission to improve street cleanliness, all roads will be cleaned by the end of the next working day following refuse and recycling collections.
Free Council wheelie bins are being delivered to more than 15,000 homes in the Southall area. The wheelie bin area (see notes to editors) was decided following views expressed in last year’s ‘How to bin it’ consultation. The Council is reminding all those who have already received their wheelie bin not to put it out for collection until next week.
In addition an appointment based special bulky waste collection service (to take away up to eight bulky items for £20) will be introduced that promises to be twice as fast as the current service.
Although recycling rates in the borough have improved over the past year (from 19 to 25% - the highest ever recorded in the borough) the Council is hoping that further investment will see rates rocket even further.
And it is not just people who live in houses who will benefit from the extra investment in recycling services. Residents in more than 1,000 homes (flats and red routes) will be offered a mixed recycling service. And, more large blocks of flats will be provided with communal bins to boost recycling.
In a bid to cut down on rubbish left out too early, special signs will be put up in residential roads, setting out each road’s collection day and times from March 2008. In addition, communal bins will be placed at various locations close to flats above shops to help these residents dispose of rubbish responsibly.
Council Leader Jason Stacey said: “It’s very exciting that people across the borough are now only days away from benefiting from this multi-million pound revamp. It’s only a year since we first asked people what they wanted us to do to improve waste and recycling, so it’s great that we’ve been able to introduce these widespread improvements in such a relatively short amount of time.
"The new services are part of our commitment to making the streets of Ealing cleaner. It’s important to us that we get the basics right and the roll out of these changes are a key milestone in our drive to improve the frontline services that we know really matter to local people.
“Of course this investment means great change, not only for residents but also for our refuse and recyling teams. We’re confident that we’ve put everything in place to make the transition as smooth as possible, but I’d ask people to be patient for a couple of weeks while the new services bed in.”
November 13, 2007
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