Fenland District Council’s call to use recycling bin correctly

Householders could boost Fenland District Council’s income by an extra £40,000 a year by ensuring that they make full use of their blue recycling bins.

Currently the council collects about 9,000 tonnes of mixed dry recycling from the district’s blue bins each year. That provides an annual income of more than £385,000.

But a recent analysis, carried out for FDC by the Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP), showed that people are still placing a lot of mixed dry recycling in their green general waste bins.

It concluded that if all households did a bit more, the annual amount of mixed dry recycling collected could be increased to over 10,000 tonnes, which would bring in more than £425,000 per year.

Moving this material from the green bin to the blue bin equates to 150 full loads for a new refuse lorry that has replaced one that has been in service for nine years.

Cllr Peter Murphy, cabinet member responsible for the environment, said: “Fenland already has a good recycling record but, as this research shows, we could do even better.

“If everyone puts as much dry recycling in our blue bins as possible, we can all make a big difference. By taking that little extra care we can save this valuable resource, do our bit for the environment and use the increased income to support local services. That’s particularly important at a time when all our finances are being increasingly squeezed.”