RECAP News

23/10/2009 - Blue bins arrive in Cambridge to make recycling easier

Thousands of blue wheelie bins have arrived in Cambridge this week and residents of the city will start receiving them on Monday 26th October. The blue bins will be emptied on the same day as green bins starting from November 16th.

Cambridge City Council is bringing in the blue bins to replace recycling boxes, which residents have said are too small, create litter when it is windy and stop them from recycling more. The blue wheelie bins will mean that paper, glass, cans, plastic bottles, cardboard and Tetra-Pak style cartons can all be collected mixed in one bin.  The material will then be sorted at a Materials Recycling Facility in Peterborough and sent on to reprocessors for recycling. These changes will save on the running costs of collecting recycling when the bins start being emptied from November 16^th.

 

It will take about a month to deliver all the bins starting with Abbey ward and finishing with Romsey and Coleridge wards. One lucky household will get a surprise with their bin – the council has teamed up with Star Radio to offer a prize of family bikes for the household which finds a ‘golden ticket’ inside their bin. 

Mike Pitt, Executive Councillor for Environmental and Waste Services said, “We are delighted to be making these improvements, which will make it easier for residents to recycle more. We are also really pleased that hundreds of people have chosen to ‘downsize’ their black refuse bins to make space for a blue bin – this shows how committed the people of Cambridge are to reducing their waste.”

 

Households which do not have space to store an extra wheelie bin will be keeping their recycling boxes.

Residents can contact the council on enquiries@cambridge.gov.uk or 01223 458282 if they have any questions about the new scheme.

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