Plastic and Tetra Pak recycling arrives at the kerbside

33,000 green recycling boxes will be making their way to Bristol residents’ homes from today, Monday 23rd January, as the new kerbside recycling services kick off their first phase.

Residents have already had collection day changes introduced as part of the new waste contract awarded to May Gurney last year, and now these new services will bring mixed plastic and Tetra Pak collections to all residents’ doorsteps, as well as helping to reduce the amount of waste people throw away.

In order to ensure a smooth rollout, the new services are being introduced in several phases between January and June. Phase 1 of the rollout starts from Monday 23rd January, when 20,000 homes will receive their new green boxes on their usual collection day. They can start to use it straight away, ready for the first collection the following week - commencing 30th January. Then on 6th February, a further 13,000 homes will receive their green box, ready for use the following week.

Inside the green box will be a detailed leaflet explaining the new services, a sticker to put on the black box - as a reminder of what goes in it and a netting cover to prevent materials blowing away on windy days.

Once residents have received their green box, the following week a new, slightly smaller, wheelie bin will be delivered to them. The new 180 litre bins will replace the current 240 litre bins, as residents should have less to throw away once they start using their green box. The new bins will be delivered before their waste and recycling collection takes place. The old bins will then be taken away once they have been emptied by bin crews on their usual waste collection rounds.

The streets included in phase 1 of the new service roll out have been chosen by May Gurney to provide a good cross section of areas with different property types and levels of participation in current recycling services.

Phase 2 of the roll out will bring the new services to around 40,000 households from 27th Feb. Phase 3 will start on 23rd April and the final phase will begin on 21st May, so by the end of June, all households in Bristol will have the new services.

Jon Sharkey, mobilisation contract manager for May Gurney, said: “Since May Gurney took over the contract on the 1st November, we have been working hard to ensure the service runs smoothly and ironing out any minor issues that tend to crop up in a contract of this size.

”Residents have been great in adapting to the changes we have already introduced to collection days and of course the day changes over Christmas as a result of bank holidays. Now comes the best part for residents - better services on their doorstep. In order for us to roll it out as efficiently as possible, it will take us a few months before the whole city has the new recycling services, but by the end of June everyone should be recycling their mixed plastics and Tetra Paks and enjoying a much improved service.”

Cabinet member for strategic waste, Cllr Gary Hopkins, said: “When we set out to deliver this contract, we knew the number one thing residents wanted was for their plastics and Tetra Paks to be collected at the kerbside and we’ve worked hard to be able to deliver this, while at the same time managing to save around £2.5 million a year of tax payers’ money with a much more efficient and cost effective service.

“We’re very pleased that May Gurney are now ready to roll out the new services to residents. This should make it easier for people to recycle even more at home and reduce the amount they throw away.

“This comes just as we’ve received our latest recycling figures, which show that for December 2011, Bristol recycled 53% of its waste - our highest ever level and a huge milestone for the city. National targets were set for us to achieve this goal by 2020, so we are way ahead of our targets. This makes us one of the top performing cities in the country and I would like to thank Bristol residents for all efforts at recycling and reducing their waste.”

Figures just received for December 2011 show that Bristol’s rate for recycling, composting and reuse was 53% - an increase of 17% from just 36% in December 2010. The amount of waste sent to landfill has dropped to 19.42%, down from 63.34% in December 2010 (and 88% before Bristol’s weekly food & organic kerbside recycling were introduced in 2006). This is the second month in a row when the recycling rate has soared - November saw the highest previous rate of just over 48% - and is mainly due to the new waste contract in place with New Earth Solutions.

Since the commissioning of New Earth’s mechanical biological treatment facility in Avonmouth in September, around two-thirds of Bristol’s residual waste - 53,600 tonnes each year - is taken there instead of being sent to landfill. Here, further material that can be recycled is recovered; a biomass-rich, refuse-derived fuel for use in energy recovery is created from the material that can’t be recycled; and a compost product, used for land remediation, is produced.

Residents wanting to find out more about the new waste and recycling services can visit www.bristol.gov.uk/recycling or telephone the council’s customer services centre on 0117 922 2100.