New Waste & Recycling Service Goes Live

18 April 2011, 15:03 | Updated: 18 April 2011, 15:05

The new alternate refuse and recycling collection service is now live throughout the borough.

Every week during March, one quarter of the borough’s homes joined the new service.

Despite the fact that not all residents were receiving the new service until the end of March, the new service has already had a big impact on how waste is managed in Welwyn Hatfield.

In March, almost twice as much glass, cans and plastics was collected than normal. This was up from 160 tonnes to 320 tonnes. The council also sent 33% less waste to landfill.

Bob Jewell, Director of Finance and Operations at Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council, said: “The levels of recycling are impressive and show the benefits of the new, extended recycling service. Now the whole borough is able to take part, we expect recycling to increase even further in April, with the amount of waste to landfill continuing to drop.”

The change in collection has been a big shift for residents and the council thanks all residents in accepting and helping them implement the new service.

As part of the change, recycling crews have noticed that residents are trying to be helpful by separating their recyclables within carrier, bin bags or black sacks. Similarly cardboard is being recycled as paper. The council would like to remind residents that:

• Recycling in the blue lidded bin should be loose, not bagged. This is to enable the machinery at the recycling plant to separate the different materials and also so the crews can see what is inside the bin.
• Cardboard needs to go into the brown bin, not the blue lidded bin.
• The type of plastic that is recycled is disposable plastic packaging. This is commonly used to protect/contain food and drink, as well as many other products. The exceptions are Tetra Pak (juice cartons) and polystyrene.
• Squashing plastics and cans will make a big difference to the amount you can fit in your blue lidded bin, and therefore the crews can fit in the lorry. 
• Taking a little extra care when filling the inner box with paper, will mean you can fit in a lot more than expected.
• Finally remember, the bank holidays are approaching so there will be some adjustment to the collections. Please refer to your collection card for rubbish and recycling collection dates.