I am pleased that kerbside collection of cardboard for recycling is coming back to South Shropshire in December. This is long overdue. We have had to endure five years without kerbside collection. Cardboard is a vital resource and we should not be burning it in the Battlefield incinerator. When we resume household collection, we should also see a reduction in fly-tipping.
We probably have more household cardboard waste than ever because we rely so much on online services delivered by the Royal Mail or couriers. The first carboard collection in South Shropshire will be on the first recycling collection day on or after 5 December.
The rollout of our new recycling collection service will begin in the South Shropshire area on Monday 5th December. The service will have two new elements. Firstly, the collection of cardboard with paper in a 75 litre, reusable blue bag. Secondly, residents will no longer need to present glass bottles and jars in a separate box to the plastics and metal containers, so these can be mixed in whatever way is convenient which may reduce the number of boxes needed.
Veolia will begin delivery of the blue bags in the South Shropshire area on Monday next, 21 November. The bags will be accompanied by a leaflet on the recycling and waste service.
Shropshire Recycling Guide November 2016
The blue bags will take: magazines, junk mail, envelopes, catalogues, ready meal boxes, egg boxes, newspapers, cardboard packaging and cereal packets.
The bring bank for cardboard at Smithfield Car Park will be removed towards the end of December. At the same time, bring banks for plastics around the town will be removed. Shropshire Council says these are not economic due to low tonnages, rising levels of contamination, increased collection costs and the falling value of plastics.
We have had five years without kerbside collection of cardboard for recycling. The service was withdrawn in November 2011, after a change in composting rules that seemed to have caught Shropshire Council and Veolia by surprise. I was never happy with cardboard being composted anyway – it is a useful resource that can be reused.
In the first two years after kerbside collection was withdrawn, the quantity of cardboard recycled dropped by 60%. Some went into the black bins and was tipped into landfill. Since last year, non-recycled waste has been burnt at the Battlefield incinerator. Quite a bit has been fly-tipped.
Fly-tipped cardboard at Steventon
I am very pleased that we are at long last getting kerbside cardboard recycling back. It is long overdue. That it has taken so long reflects the inflexibility we have in our contract with Veolia, which will cost us close to £30 million a year until 2034. I am not so keen that we are losing many of our bring banks. People with limited storage space need alternative ways of recycling otehrwise they will put cardboard and plastics in the blck bin and it will go to the incinerator.
More recycling information from Shropshire Council.
Thanks for the info.. Knew it was coming but nice to have the details.