Stroud District’s new waste and recycling service starts next week, allowing all 52,000 households to recycle their food waste for the first time.
Stroud District Council wants to remind residents that they can start filling their food waste bins now in advance of the first collections under the new scheme. They can also start putting rubbish in their grey wheelie-bins, or, for the small amount of properties that cannot accommodate a bin, into their new beige rubbish bags.
The first collections for the new service start on Tuesday, November 1. New collection calendars have been sent to all households over the past few days, and residents are urged to carefully check them and the accompanying letter as collection days are changing for many residents.
Green Councillor Simon Pickering, chair of Stroud District Council’s environment committee, said:
“We’re very excited to see the improved waste and recycling service get underway. The district’s residents have been asking for food waste recycling and it’s something we have wanted to do for some time.
“We expect the new service to significantly boost recycling rates in the district and reduce the amount of rubbish going to landfill, something that is both beneficial to the environment and saves tax-payer money in costly landfill charges.”
The new service sees rubbish move to fortnightly collections in new wheelie-bins (or beige sacks for around 15% of the population) and the current recycling bins and boxes will continue to be collected every two weeks as they currently are.
Households have been provided with kitchen caddies to collect food waste in the home, and outside food waste bins to empty them into for collection.
Councillor Pickering added:
“The other great benefit of the new service is that the food waste bins lock shut, which, coupled with rubbish in wheelie-bins, should significantly reduce the problem of animals ripping open bin bags and creating a terrible mess on collection day.”
As wheelie-bins or beige refuse sacks will now be used to collect rubbish, the council will no longer be providing households with a weekly black bin bag. However, residents can still use their own bin liners, but these need to be put inside the new grey bins or beige sacks for collection.
For the kitchen caddy and food waste bins, residents do not need to line them but if they want to they can use plastic bags, compostable liners or newspaper.
All properties should have received their new bins by now. Anyone who hasn’t should contact the council urgently so that they can be delivered in time for their collections.
For further information about how the new service works, residents are urged to check their information leaflets, or visit the council’s website.
To contact the council about missing bins or collection calendars, email recycling@stroud.gov.uk or call 01453 754424.
Additional information
- This week you will not receive replacement black bags when your rubbish is collected. You can line your household bin with any bag or liner you wish and place it into your grey-wheelie bin or beige bags for collection.
- You may wish to put your house number or name on your new bins.
- Your current green recycling bin and box stay the same, however you cannot put batteries in your green bin anymore, but these can be recycled at supermarkets.
- If you have been given beige bags for your rubbish instead of a wheelie-bin, you will have received a year’s supply (up to three bags per fortnight – which is more than the previous one bag per week).
- Fortnightly rubbish collections might sound worrying, but they should be fine, because food waste will be collected separately every week, so the waste left in your bin shouldn’t be smelly.
- It’s estimated that food waste takes up a third of the space in rubbish bags, so using the new food waste service should significantly reduce the amount of rubbish in your bin.
- The food waste from the district will be sent to an anaerobic digester where it will be composted and the gases turned into energy to power homes and businesses. The waste product is turned into fertiliser for farmers to use on their fields.