South Holland District Council offices.

Council finalises its recycling trial

The details of a new trial of alternate recycling waste collections for Pinchbeck, Surfleet and northern Spalding have been finalised.

In total 2,600 homes are set to be sent a new purple sack to put paper and card waste in for the next year.

It will be collected every other week alternating with the current recycling collections.

The idea behind it is to avoid the paper and card being contaminated by other recycled items such as waste from other containers or broken glass.

Paper and card with waste on it (ie grease on pizza boxes) should not be recycled.

It’s part of a trial of the Lincolnshire Waste Partnership, with homes in Boston and North Kesteven being given 240-litre wheeled bins collected every four weeks for their paper and card.

It’s hoped it will lead to a scheme for all of Lincolnshire.

Those taking part in the scheme will be notified before it goes live, which is due to be in September.

Soon to be announced drop-in sessions are also set to be held in the area for those requesting more information.

Coun Roger Gambba-Jones, South Holland District Council portfolio holder for place, said: “We understand that this trial will require some changes to the way residents in the chosen areas recycle. However, we hope that they will support us in our efforts to be forward thinking in seeking better ways to reuse our waste.

“We believe that the system of separating recyclable waste will deliver a better solution for our environment, and help us to contribute to reducing the amount of contaminated waste collected –saving both time and overall cost to our taxpayers.

“By using the purple sacks residents will have more capacity than they do with the green sacks. It will enable us to provide good quality waste paper and card for reprocessing, generating a return to be invested back into our county’s waste services.”

Coun Eddy Poll, Chairman of the Lincolnshire Waste Partnership, said: “This scheme gives us the opportunity to do something differently so we can improve the quality of our recycling so it can be properly recycled, as our residents expect.

“By having a separate bin/bag we will be able to collect dry paper and card, and avoid it being contaminated by other items in the recycling bins and bags. These contaminants have been affecting the fibres of the paper, making it really difficult to fully recycle.”

The trial was discussed at last Wednesday’s South Holland District Council meeting, during which Coun Angela Newton asked why members had to find out about the trial from the press.

Coun Roger Gambba-Jones replied that the county council waste partnership “let the cat out of the bag” before SHDC had confirmed its involvement.

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