Revving Up On The Recycling Road

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Fourteen new recycling trucks hit the streets

A fleet of 14 new recycling vehicles costing £1.7 million has hit the streets of Ealing as part of a multi-million pound investment in waste and recycling services.

The new trucks have two separate compartments enabling the Council’s contractor ECT to pick up mixed plastic (Ealing is the first London borough to do so) and garden waste at the same time.

The £3.8 million package of improvements, that started to be rolled out from 19 November, includes single day collections for all refuse and recycling and same day pick-up for missed refuse collections reported to the Council by 5pm.

                     

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 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 also began 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 have been delivered to more than 15,000 homes in the Southall area. The wheelie bin area was decided following views expressed in a major consultation carried out by the Council last year.

In addition an appointment based special bulky waste collection service (to take away up to eight bulky items for £20) has been introduced that promises to be twice as fast as the old 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.

Council Leader Jason Stacey said: “It’s very exciting that the new services have started to be rolled-out. Early indications are that plastic recycling is proving to be popular and that residents are taking full advantage of the new services available.

"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.”

Dan Waltzer, Technical Director at ECT Recycling, said: “ECT is delighted that with the Council’s investment, our teams can now provide improved services to the borough’s residents including recycling plastics and more weekly collections. People will see how much they are recycling on a regular basis and may be surprised by how little needs to be thrown away as waste.”

November 22, 2007