A thank you to our residents
On August 3rd 2020, Brentwood Borough Council launched a new scheme for the collection of paper and cardboard, and cans and plastic. We said goodbye to the single use orange plastic sacks, and hello to two new reusable bags instead.
The scheme has now been running for over 5 months, and we would like to take the opportunity to say a big THANK YOU to all of the residents who have worked hard to adapt to the scheme and make it a success. Your hard work really does pay off. This newsletter brings you the latest updates and information on recycling in our borough.
Each month Brentwood recycles...
- 250 tonnes of paper and card - enough to fill 7 double decker buses or save 4,250 trees!
- 65 tonnes of cans and plastics - enough cans to stretch from Brentwood to the Suffolk border!
Not only that, in the last year we’ve seen a 23% increase across garden, glass and food recycling! This is helping make fertiliser for farmers, saving thousands of kg of CO2 and helping make millions of new glass bottles.
Making your recycling count
The new recycling scheme is proving hugely successful in improving the quality of dry recyclables collected, ensuring more material is sent to the processors for recycling. Levels of contamination remained below 2% for the first three months of the new scheme. Contamination in the orange sacks often reached as high as 10% and included items ranging from wood to nappies.
We needed to reduce this to stop these items spoiling the rest of the recycling we collect. Removing these items also increases the value of the recycling by making it more appealing to processors and, therefore, enables us to generate an income.
Your recycling not only has environmental value, it has financial value too!
Latest figures forecast that the separation of your paper & card and cans & plastic will save the Council £180,000 a year. This income will help bridge the Council’s £1m funding gap and is vital to enabling us to continue providing our services to you.
A reminder on what can be recycled
You can also refer to your calendar or our A-Z Recycling Guide to ensure your items are recyclable.
If the crews find items in your bags that shouldn’t be there, they may be unable to empty it and leave a ‘Sorry to leave you sticker’.
This is because putting the wrong thing in your recycling sacks can:
- Spoil a whole lorry load of recycling
- Be dangerous to the people who sort it
- Damage the machinery at the sorting facility
- Waste taxpayer’s money
Why no plastic bags?
This is determined by the MRF (Materials Recovery Facility). Plastic films present a number of technical challenges, such as becoming entangled in equipment and causing blockages. Outlets and markets for these materials are also not as developed as those for high value hard rigid plastics. However, we have been assured that the contractor regularly reviews this material stream with a view to accepting it in the future.
Please seal your bags!
It is really important to seal the bags you put out for emptying. This is because the moisture levels of the ‘paper and card’ must be low to ensure the material can be fully processed. This is a challenge at this time of year, but with your help in using the velcro flap on the bags, we should not have any issues.
Latest News
Small Bags
The blue recycling bags for paper and card are now available in a smaller version. The smaller bags are aimed at helping those who have difficulty managing the larger sacks. To order a small blue bag, please contact 01277 312500. A smaller version of the white bag, for cans and plastics, will be available soon
Do you receive a communal recycling collection?
We are working hard to change all communal areas over to the new recycling scheme. This is a rolling programme which we hope to conclude as soon as possible in the New Year. The main reason for this is that the existing stock of bins are being re-used, in an effort to promote re-use and to make the costs of this element of the project manageable.
The Deputy Operations Manager meets with managing agents to ensure that full agreement is reached in terms of what we can provide to help their residents.
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