Stratford District residents can now recycle even more

From 1 April 2013 Stratford-on-Avon District Council together with contractors Biffa UK Ltd have expanded the range of materials that can be recycled in the District through the kerbside household collection service.

The expansion of the District Council's recycling service means that from April the following items can also be recycled:

• Small household Electrical and Electronic Equipment (also known as 'WEEE')
• Textiles such as old clothes and rags (excluding pillows, duvets and footwear) and
• Household batteries (excluding car batteries)

Residents are currently recycling over 60% of household waste making the District Council one of the top recycling Councils in the UK with the new service set to push recycling rates even higher.

Cllr Lynda Organ, Technical Services Portfolio says: “This is a really positive development, by working in partnership with Biffa we have been able to enhance the collection service to help residents recycle even more of their household waste on their doorstep.  This all helps reduce the amount we send to landfill as we continue to look at new ways to maximise the amount of waste we recycle in the District."

From April, residents can place their unwanted electrical items, textiles and batteries in separate tied up carrier bags on the ground by the side of any of their wheeled bins, not inside the bin, for collection on the normal collection day.

All the collection vehicles have been fitted with small compartments so the materials can be stored separately and will not be put into the back of the vehicles.

To ensure they can be collected, items must be small enough to fit into a standard-sized carrier bag, such as a plastic shopping bags.

Small household WEEE includes:

• Kettles, toasters, irons and other small kitchen appliances
• Hairdryers, hair straighteners and hair clippers
• Clocks, watches, calculators and torches
• Remote controllers, mobile phones, cameras and chargers
• Mobile phone and laptop batteries
• Radios, alarms, mini hi-fi's and CD and MP3 players
• Power tools, smoke detectors and thermostats
• Small electronic toys eg remote control cars
• Household batteries (placed in a separate bag)
• Any other small electrical item with a plug or that uses batteries

Small household WEEE excludes:

• Light bulbs, fluorescent tubes,
• Televisions, computer monitors of any size and laptops
• Large white good (e.g. washing machines, fridges and microwave ovens)
• Anything that will not fit inside a standard-sized carrier bag

Cables and plugs should be left attached to the electrical items, but batteries should be removed from the electrical items and bagged separately.  Bagged batteries can be put into the carrier bag along with small electrical items.

The contract extension will also result in budget savings of approx £400,000 each year for the next 9 years and ensure continuity of service whilst giving the opportunity to make some changes to the way the services are provided to ensure they are easy to use and meet residents' needs.