Published: Thursday, 28th May 2020
Cannock Chase Council and its waste collection partner, Biffa Municipal Ltd are asking residents for their continued help and support to reduce the level of contaminated waste currently being found in their blue dry recycling bins during the pandemic.
Cannock Chase residents have been fantastic over the recent months in showing their appreciation for bin collection staff with pictures and good wishes, but since lockdown on 23 March there has been a significant increase in the levels of contamination. We have had 28 loads rejected at Biffa’s materials recycling facility in the last two months, where staff hand sort these items. This level is more than that experienced -from December 2017 until March 2020!
To improve the quality of the materials recycled and reduce the risk of spreading infection at the recycling facility, bin crews are checking all blue bins at the kerbside. Any bins that contain items such as black bags, nappies, food waste, textiles, tins of paint, used tissues, kitchen roll and wipes are being rejected as contaminated and tagged; meaning that households will have to remove the identified items and either put them in their residual waste (green bin) for the next collection or take the items to one of the Household Waste Recycling Centres in the District.
For some residents a key cause of contamination is confusion about what can and cannot be included in the recycling bin and this can lead to residents mistakenly putting items in their blue bin that cannot be recycled or that could be considered hazardous to the staff responsible for sorting out the materials by hand.
Over the coming weeks we will be putting a new sticker on all blue household bins across the District reminding residents of what should be put in the bin and we will be asking householders to take a little extra care with the recycled waste they put in their blue bin – and help us to cut the economic and environmental cost of incineration.
Councillor Paul Woodhead, Portfolio Leader for Environment said “I would like to say a big thank you to the residents of Cannock Chase for supporting our waste and refuse collectors during these difficult times and following our advice about wiping the handles of bins before and after collection.
“I am now asking our community to help us to stop these rejected loads and bin tags by getting the right waste in the right bin. Paper tissues have been a particular area of confusion during this time, these cannot be recycled and put the safety of our key recycling workers at risk. Green bin only please guys.
“I know recycling can be confusing for some people and a lot of residents get it unintentionally wrong. If a resident is unsure if an item should go in the blue bin then I would ask them to check the easy to use search facility on our website https://www.cannockchasedc.gov.uk/residents/recycling-waste/which-items-go-which-bin or if in doubt ask.”