Wheeled out, our new green waste service (From Chelmsford Weekly News)

Wheeled out, our new green waste service

7:23am Wednesday 12th March 2008

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A NEW wheelie bin green waste collection service will soon be introduced across the district.

Basildon Council is preparing to hand out more than 50,000 bins, to cater for almost every home in the town.

Residents will be able recycle garden waste, such as grass, twigs, leaves and plants.

The move spells an end to the current scheme, which uses cornstarch sacks available only to those homeowners who signed up.

From April, nearly all households will be included in the kerbside collection service, which is also being extended to run from a nine-month to all- year-round service.

Stephen Hillier, councillor responsible for environmental issues, said he hoped this would boost recycling figures and help more residents to compost their garden waste.

He said: "Thousands of tonnes of garden waste is needlessly dumped in landfill sites each year.

"This is not only harmful to the environment, but threatens to leave local taxpayers out of pocket as landfill charges soar ever higher.

"We aim to achieve a 30 per cent increase in garden waste recycling by adding to the services already in place for glass, paper and plastic."

The switch from sacks to wheeled bins has made it possible to bring an extra 5,000 properties on to the scheme, which previously had no kind of garden waste collection.

Residents already using the garden waste scheme helped to recycle 5,500 tonnes last year.

Garden waste will be collected every fortnight on the same day as residents' other recycling.

The switch from sacks to wheeled bins follows a successful trial of 12,000 homes across the district last year.

Mr Hillier added: "Wheeled bins hold more waste than cornstarch sacks and are easier to fill and manoeuvre."

Residents who still want to use the sacks for any reason will have to pay for them, except the elderly and vulnerable.

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