Protecting your weekly collections
As Covid-19 cases continue to rise in the borough, we’re doing our utmost to protect essential weekly general waste, recycling and food waste kerbside collections.
Over 40 per cent of staff at our borough’s waste collection contractor Veolia are off due to the impact of Covid-19, with a small number of positive cases and most of the rest having to self isolate.
As a result of this, Veolia has had to temporarily suspend the garden waste service in order to protect these essential kerbside collections.
Garden waste collections temporarily suspended
Due to the high number of covid-related staff absences, Veolia has temporarily suspended the garden waste collections. Veolia is working to get the collections restarted as soon as possible and are looking to draft in more staff from agencies and other areas.
We are continuing to review the situation with our contractor and will update residents once Veolia is able to restart collections.
At the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, the council extended the current garden waste service for the 2020 – 2021 contract for an additional month to allow for any disruptions to the service due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The current contract expires at the end of April.
Government guidance is to stay at home during the national lockdown but the re3 recycling centres at Longshot Lane, Bracknell, and Smallmead, Reading, remain open as a key public service. If you are unable to store your waste at home or wait to visit, then you can book a slot to visit via the click and tip service.
Recycle more in 2021
January is a time for goalsetting and there isn’t a better one than recycling more and wasting less.
Here are some top tips on what you can do to increase recycling and reduce waste.
- Recycle more items from your bathroom – plastic bottles, toilet roll tubes, hand soap bottles, perfume bottles and more. Our bathrooms are full of items which can be recycled but are easily forgotten. Our partners at re3 have a heap of suggestions to help you do this, including adding a second bin if you’ve got room to separate recycling and general waste items.
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Make the most of food waste recycling – our service continues to be used by more and more of you but if you’re still not using it there’s never been a better time to start. We can really cut our food waste by looking at what unused food ends up in our caddy and thinking about this when we are next out food shopping.
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Reduce single-use plastics – did you know an average UK household uses 480 plastic bottles a year but only recycles 270? Lots of plastic items can be recycled in your black boxes but you can also cut down on your single use plastics when you shop, such as by buying loose fruit and vegetables.
Waterproof recycling bags: Why not metal bins?
As we get closer to the rollout of our new waterproof recycling bags, each week we’ll be answering some of the most frequently asked questions on them in this newsletter. This week:
Q: Did you consider metal bins which are weighted, waterproof and 100 per cent recyclable?
A: Metal bins are considerably more expensive and heavier than the waterproof recycling bags. To provide two bins per home would cost the council £1.3million, which is substantially more expensive than the waterproof recycling bags.
As we are able to provide updates on the rollout to residents, this newsletter will be the best place for the latest information, so keep your eyes peeled and let your neighbours know to sign up.
End of festive schedule changes
Thank you for your patience during our revised schedule of waste and recyling collections over the festive break, allowing our contractor’s teams some much needed rest over Christmas.
All general waste, recycling and food waste collections will now return to your normal days.
If you ever need to check your collection day, you can do so on our website.
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