Recycling has become extremely important in today’s world and your new silver bin or clear bags can be used for all those materials that we can recycle.
Here at SKDC we are required to achieve tough recycling targets set by government. Quite rightly, government targets are not meant to be easily attainable. Yet so far, thanks to your magnificent efforts, we have not just achieved them – we’ve smashed them to pieces!
When we received our original recycling target from the government we were so confident about the commitment of people in South Kesteven to recycling that we decided to increase it.
The result? Nearly 50% more than the original government target. That’s a truly astounding achievement and a performance that everyone should be proud of.
Looking after our planet becomes more crucial every year and that means doing everything we possibly can to reduce the amount of rubbish deposited in landfill sites. That’s why the government imposed recycling targets on us and that’s why we must continually improve our performance to make sure that we achieve our target of 50%!
It’s a demanding target and a major challenge – there’s no doubt about that, but it’s also one that our new system will help us to tackle head on. Let’s all work together to hit that 50% target – and produce another tremendous South Kesteven result.
| Round Number | Expected Month of delivery of your bins |
|---|---|
| 1-5 | Already have bins |
| 6 | March and April |
| 7 | April |
| 8 | April and May |
| 9 | May and June |
| 10 | June |
| 11 | March and April |
If you are in an area where bins have already been delivered, you are going to receive your new pink and clear bags very soon. We will write to you soon about the bags and information about when you can start using them.
We will write to you to let you know when bins / bags are starting to be delivered to your area. The letters are addressed to ‘The Resident’ so please keep your eyes out for an envelope marked ‘Refuse & Recycling Information’.
Please don’t use your bins / bags immediately. You will receive a second letter telling you when you can start using them.
Your day of collection stays the same, but we are changing the way your rubbish is collected.
As we know that about half of your rubbish can be recycled using the new scheme, we are emptying your silver bin / clear bags on alternate weeks to your landfill collections. Information is sent with the bins or bags.
If you can’t arrange for someone to put your bins / bags out while you are away, we’re afraid we won’t collect them. If you know you are going to be away please plan ahead and reduce the amount of rubbish you leave in your bins or bags.
As before, we will expect the bins or bags to be placed at the end of your driveway for the collection. We know that for some people, this may be difficult with the bins, and we therefore suggest that you store your bins at the end of your driveway or you can request that we drive closer to your property and make the collections from there. We will need to assess if this is practical for you and us, and then ask you to complete a form to give us permission to drive on your property. If you want to arrange for such a visit, please contact us on 01476 406360 or complete our online form.
The council will not clean your bins but if you follow the advice as outlined in the information booklets, you will find that the bins need little cleaning.
If you do wish to clean them, here are some simple tips.
Contact the helpline on 01476 406360 or complete our online form to arrange for repairs to be made or for your bin to be replaced. As the bins are electronically tagged, we will register a new bin to your address.
Using bins will not breach any conservation order on your property. Obviously everyone has different opinions about the bins but many think that they improve the look of the area as there will no longer be bags scattered all over the streets each collection day.
We aim to give everyone bins rather than bags. The bins are safer for the collection staff and for you (no more split bags!) and they are much tidier. We do know that some properties will not have the space to store the bins and these will get the pink and clear bag system instead.
We will ask these questions:
If we find that we can answer either of these questions ‘Yes’ we will issue bins to that address.
Unfortunately the bins only come in one standard size. However, please do not worry if you only half fill your bins as we will still collect them. We will look into this option once we have issued all the bins out and we know better how they are used by you.
The information packs we hand out will give suggestions as to how you can reduce the amount of rubbish you create. Recycling more will mean that you will put less rubbish in the black bin or pink bags.
We know that this is a big change for you but there are many people that are already using the system and have found that they are managing very well with the space in the bins and bags. We do send information with simple steps to help you reduce the amount of rubbish you make. We will take extra recycling next to the bins and bags as long as it is not in black bin bags. Use carriers or other bags or cardboard boxes.
Your collections will stay the same day as your old black bag collection day.
They need to be placed in the same place as your old black bags were.
You can recycle:
Plastics
Yes please
No thank you
Cans and Tins
Yes Please
Clothing and Shoes
Yes Please
Glass
Yes Please
No Thanks
Paper and Cardboard
Yes Please
What can't be recycled yet?
Batteries – at the moment batteries cannot be recycled in the silver bin or clear bag scheme. They can be taken to the Household Waste Recycling Centre in Grantham.
White foam polystyrene – this is a very tricky material for companies to recycle. It needs to be perfectly clean before it can be recycled, and with the new arrangements, this cannot be guaranteed. As such, we cannot recycle this at the moment, but we will keep you informed if this changes!
Cling film and plastic films – again this is a growing area, and we are hoping that soon we will be able to recycle these plastics. The industry works by weight, and obviously plastic bags and films are very lightweight. Because they need a lot of weight for it to be accepted for recycling, which we might not be able to get, it could be very expensive to add this to the recycling collections. We are discussing options though and we will do our best to add these items to the collections.
Glass from windows etc – this glass is reinforced so that it is fit for purpose. It therefore needs to be recycled differently. Obviously pieces of broken glass cannot be easily identified as being from a window or jam jar, so we need to make sure that the two types do not get mixed up.
Life is full of rules isn’t it? All those do’s and don’ts. However in most cases the rules are essential because they simply make it clear how to do things. It also means that there’s not one rule for one and one rule for another. It’s the same for everyone.
And it’s no different with our new collection system, so please bear with us, especially as we’ve done all we possibly can to keep the number of those dreaded – but necessary – rules to an absolute minimum.
Please make sure that you do not place non-recyclables in your silver bin or clear bags. If you do we will not be able to take it away for recycling. Just one lot of wrong materials in your silver bin or clear bags can contaminate the whole lorry load of materials. Please do not be the person to ruins it for everyone else.
There they are – just a few simple rules. If you have any problems, please let us know by phoning 01476 406360 or complete the online form
We run an assisted collection service for people with disabilities who struggle with getting their rubbish for the collection. If you think that you would benefit from this service, please complete our online form.
We all need to make a change before it is too late. Landfill is not only damaging to the environment, but it is also going to become VERY expensive. Within Lincolnshire we have always been ‘lucky’ to have plenty of landfill capacity, but under new European Union directives we will face hefty fines for carrying on landfilling rubbish in the same way as we have in the past.
The new system will give everyone a recycling collection for about half of their rubbish and make us all think about the rubbish that we send to landfill.
We need to work together to achieve this aim, and with this new system we all have the tools to make a difference!
As we have rolled out the new alternate weekly collection service there have been changes to the way that your rubbish is dealt with. As part of this change, you may feel that we are asking more of you, and yet you do not know what you will receive in return.
Below are the Street Scene standards that we aim to achieve:
Rubbish (pink and clear bags) collections
Help us make the service better – let us know your comments, compliments and complaints
If your bin has been missed, or you feel that there has been a problem with your collection, please let us know.
