You Can Now Recycle Cartons in West Lindsey

West Lindsey District Council have announced that milk and juice cartons can now be recycled through inclusion in the recyclables that local people can put in there blue wheelie bins.

West Lindsey District Council in conjunction with Tetra Pak Ltd. and the carton industry body ACE UK has just started collecting beverage cartons as part of its doorstep collection service, making it even easier for residents of West Lindsey to recycle yet more of their household waste.

This change came about as Lincolnshire County Council were able to negotiate with Viridor Ltd. the inclusion of the collection of cartons as part of their existing contract for processing recyclables from the West Lindsey and City of Lincoln areas. These will be sorted along with other recyclables at no extra cost to Lincolnshire County Council and therefore no extra cost to local Council Tax Payers.

Once collected, these cartons can be recycled into a number of different products, ranging from plasterboard liner to high strength paper bags and envelopes. Please remember it will help us if you squash your cartons first.

Home Recycling Growth Means Extra Sites Can Close

Expensive to run recycling sites throughout West Lindsey are set to close now that the district council has extended the range of materials that can be recycled from residents’ homes.

Recycling sites at places including supermarkets and village halls have been successful in the past for collecting paper, glass and cans, but now all of these materials can be recycled in blue domestic wheelie bins or plastic sacks, the authority has seized the opportunity to save £18,000 a year.

National cuts in Government funding have hit councils throughout the country and West Lindsey has been left with a funding gap of £2.5 million over two years.

The Rasens Recycling Centre Marches to Opening

A new facility will soon be opening its gates in Market Rasen. Construction commenced in May 2010 and will open on Friday 4th March 2011.

The site will be open on Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Bank Holiday Mondays. The site is closed at all other times, including Christmas Day and Boxing Day.

The Rasens will provide a user friendly site for residents to bring their household waste. The Household Waste Recycling Centre will be able to receive approximately 30-35 types of waste to maximise recycling and minimise landfill tonnages. The types of waste it can receive and redirect for recycling include:

• Green waste (grass cuttings/ hedge clippings, etc)
• Waste engine oil
• Cooking oil
• Car Batteries
• Small batteries
• Fridges and Freezers
• Electrical Appliances
• Wood (MDF/ Laminate etc)
• Rigid Plastics
• Cardboard and paper

Triple Bin Success For Recycling Rates

West Lindsey District Council's recycling rate has shot up to over 50% since the introduction of the new triple bin collections and the council claims the dramatic success is all down to the way residents have embraced the scheme.

The council introduced a district-wide free green waste collection service and alternate weekly collections of refuse and recycling in September last year following a successful pilot scheme in Caistor, Keelby and Cherry Willingham.

Since then not only has amount of recycling increased by almost 25% compared to the same period last year, but landfill is down too. In the period from September to February the Council sent 7,076 tonnes of material to landfill - 1,916 tonnes less than that sent the year before. That's the equivalent weight of ten jumbo jets that have been saved from landfill in just five months!

The council now hopes to see its recycling rate improve even further as residents adapt to the new scheme.

Chairman of the Community and Waste Committee, Cllr. Mrs. Irmgard Parrott, Conservative (Cherry Willingham) said:

"While these are early figures, it is certainly encouraging to see that recycling has gone up significantly after only a few months of the changes being introduced. Hopefully as the scheme beds in and residents use their green bins throughout the summer for the first time, these figures will show an even bigger increase.

"It is vital that as many people as possible recycle garden waste because if it finds its way into a landfill site it becomes a major source of methane which is a damaging greenhouse gas."

West Lindsey's recycling spokesman Mr. Steve Leary said that the Council had achieved the dramatic increase by working with residents.

"We do understand that this was a major change for everyone and that change can sometimes bring about concerns. That's why we had a dedicated team of recycling advisors visiting homes throughout the district hopefully explaining all that you need to know about the new way of doing things.

"I'd like to personally thank residents for their recycling efforts so far. Together we have now achieved a recycling rate of more than 50%. It really is so important that we continue to safeguard resources and avoid government fines by diverting more waste away from landfill."

Recycling Your Batteries

As from Monday, 1st February 2010, most supermarkets and shops who sell batteries will have collection bins for used batteries.

Local residents are being urged to get their batteries recycled. Some household batteries contain chemicals like lead, mercury or cadmium. If batteries are thrown into a normal rubbish bin, they are likely to end up in landfill. Once buried, the batteries start to break down, and can leak some of these chemicals into the ground. This can cause soil and water pollution, which may be a health risk for humans.

Recycling avoids this and can also help recover some of the raw materials used for making batteries. These can be used to make other products. So recycling can save some of the planet's resources, by reducing the need to mine new materials.

Many of the items you regularly use at home will be run on batteries. Batteries from all of the following items, and many others, can be recycled:

• Mobile phones
• Laptops
• Hearing aids
• Watches
• Portable cameras
• Cordless power tools
• Torches
• Electric toothbrushes
• Razors
• Hand-held vacuum cleaners

Look out for the 'Be Positive' signs in shop windows and in stores to find these collection points.

Don't Forget to Recycle Your Christmas Tree

Over eight million trees were bought last Christmas in the United Kingdom. Most are thrown away creating over 150,000 tonnes of additional rubbish - which is twenty-one times the weight of the Eiffel Tower. Local residents are bing asked to do their bit to reduce this amount of rubbish by recycling their Christmas Tree.

Green waste wheelie bin collections take place once a month during the Winter period (December - March) and every two weeks throughout the rest of the year.

So local people can put their Christmas tree out in the green bin on their regular garden waste collection day. Check your calendar or visit www.west-lindsey.gov.uk/mybinday. It would also help if branches are trimmed before putting in the bin.

Alternatively trees can be taken to one the Household Waste Recycling Centres at any of the following locations:

• Summergangs Lane, Gainsborough
• Whisby, near Lincoln
• Great Northern Terrace, Lincoln
• Bolingbroke Road, FairfieldIndustrial Estate, Louth
• Redbourne Mere, Kirton Lindsey (in the North Lincolnshire Council area but West Lindsey residents can use this facility)
• Bigby Road, Melton Ross, Barnetby (as above)

All of the Christmas trees collected will be recycled and turned into nutrient rich compost at one of four sites in the district. The trees, and other green waste, will be tipped by the collection vehicle on to a heap and aerated. The material will then be inspected for any contaminants such as plastic bags and once they have been removed, the material will be put into a pile and shredded. It is turned at least three times until it reaches its final product. This process takes approximately eight weeks before quality compost is produced.

If you have an artificial tree you are throwing away it is important to bear in mind that it will be sent to landfill sites where they are not biodegradable. When you no longer want your artificial tree, you can extend its life by giving it to a local group or Charity shop.

Time to end Gordon Brown’s regime of bin taxes, bin cuts and bin fines

Conservative proposals to increase recycling and improve frontline services

Giles McNeill, Nettleham Parish Councillor, today welcomed new Conservative proposals to end Gordon Brown’s unpopular and damaging policies of bin cuts, bin fines and bin taxes. In a major national policy announcement, Conservatives have unveiled plans to help the local environment and improve services to family homes.

• A Conservative Government will change Whitehall policy, restoring the expectation that councils should offer full weekly collections – ending and reversing the Labour policy of bin cuts, which are harming public health and the local environment in many parts of the country.
• Central funding will be offered to all councils so they can have full weekly collections, on top of a comprehensive recycling service. This will be funded by scrapping a host of unelected quangos and local government red tape. Based on the current rate of cuts, weekly bin collections will disappear completely from Britain by 2013.
• Councils, subject to the ballot box, will still have the final decision on what services to offer – but they will no longer be bullied into cutting services due to Whitehall diktats.
• Gordon Brown’s plans for new bin taxes will be scrapped. Labour’s stealth taxes threaten to harm the environment by fuelling fly-tipping and backyard burning.
• Conservatives will champion green incentives – from trials for free green compost bins, water butts, green cones and garden wormeries, to the ‘Recyclebank’ scheme, used in America, where householders are paid for recycling.
• New powers will be given to councils, allowing them to cut local council tax bills in return for recycling and green behaviour.

Giles McNeill said:

“Gordon Brown is making it ever harder for families to dispose of their waste responsibly. Despite soaring levels of council tax, local people are being hit by cuts to collections, over-zealous use of bin fines and the prospect of expensive new bin taxes which will push up the cost of living. Councils are getting the blame for policies imposed by Whitehall. That must change.

“Conservatives believe that regular rubbish collections are a vital frontline council service to help protect the local environment and public health. We reject Labour’s approach of state bullying, cutting services and higher taxes. We will provide funding for those councils that want to provide proper weekly rubbish collections, on top of comprehensive recycling services.

“We will make it easier for families to go green and increase recycling by working with households, not punishing them with heavy-handed bin taxes, bin cuts and bin fines.”

Families face ‘double whammy’ of bin taxes and council tax – Giles McNeill

Local environment will suffer from this new stealth tax say Conservatives

Families in Grange-de-Lings, Nettleham and Riseholme face the prospect of new bin taxes on top of council tax, Giles McNeill, Nettleham Parish Councillor, warned today. After confusion in Whitehall, Labour Ministers have finally confirmed that new taxes for bin collections will go ahead.

It is currently against the law for town halls to charge for standard collections of household rubbish. In July, a cross-party Parliamentary Committee savaged the bin tax plans, warning of more fly-tipping, neighbourhood bin wars, non-payment by the public; it said that the plans would raise the overall burden of taxation.

News of higher taxes comes as new official figures published by the Government have exposed that fly-tipping across England is soaring. In West Lindsey, 1,259 incidents of Fly-Tipping were recorded in 2006-07 up 56% from 805 in 2004-05. In total, cleaning up after fly-tipping across West Lindsey has cost local taxpayers £166,439 over the last three years. The Keep Britain Tidy campaign is warning that new bin taxes will make the problem even worse.

Giles McNeill said:
“Bin taxes would harm the local environment and public health by leading to a surge in fly-tipping and backyard burning. The set-up and running costs of such a complex tax, installing microchips in every bin, will mean the overall burden of taxation will rise. Families now face the double whammy of record council tax bills and new bin taxes.

“Yet the soaring costs of waste are yet another example of how Whitehall and EU burdens are being imposed on West Lindsey District Council. The answer is not to create new local taxes. Labour Ministers must stop imposing unfunded obligations and red tape on local communities and cease hiking up local taxes by stealth.”