Published Tuesday 22 March 2022 at 16:15
The roll out of new blue bins in Blackburn with Darwen has sparked a £900,000 turnaround.
The bins were introduced across the borough in 2020 for residents to use to recycle their clean paper and cardboard.
With fewer recycling plants accepting mixed recyclables, the Council was then having to pay a premium of £600,000 a year for the contents of the grey bins to be processed.
Now, thanks to residents’ recycling efforts, the paper and cardboard is of such good quality it can be sold with more than £300,000 being recouped in the past year.
This has resulted in a turnaround of almost £1m in less than two years.
Councillor Jim Smith, Blackburn with Darwen Council’s Executive Member for Environment, said:
The new blue bins have helped spark a massive change for us in Blackburn with Darwen.
We knew we had to take action because it was costing so much to dispose of the mixed recyclables in the grey bin and it wasn’t the best way for us to recycle.
So few councils were collecting waste in that way that hardly any recycling plants would accept the contents of our grey bins and we sadly also had a really high rate of contamination too – the wrong items being in the wrong bin.
Thanks to the support of our residents, the roll out of the extra bin for clean paper and cardboard has been a fantastic success – we’ve already saved £600,000 on the costs we used to pay and, by selling the recycling, we’ve earned an extra £300,000 this year too.
We told residents that the blue bin scheme would pay for itself and we’re already well on the way to doing that which is brilliant news.
The introduction of the blue bin across the borough cost £1.3m with weekly collections continuing – alternating between recycling and general waste.
In addition to the savings, the Council introduced the bin – or sacks for those properties with limited space – to help towards its target of recycling 50% of waste by 2025.
A new ‘What goes where?’ campaign also launched alongside the rollout – based on feedback from residents who said they found recycling confusing.
And, new data has shown that contamination in the blue bins is low – less than 10%.
Councillor Smith added:
We know that recycling is one of the easiest ways that we can help in the fight against climate change and that’s a huge priority for us as a Council.
I want to say a big thank you to our residents who take the time to separate their waste – making sure it goes in the right bin.
For those who are still a little unsure, we have quick guides on the Recycle BwD website – please do take a look.
Of course, there’s always more we can be doing and this year we’ll be focusing on food waste and what we can do to help save our residents’ money and reduce the impact on our planet.
We want to get to a point where we can be re-investing the money we’re saving into things that we know really matter to our residents.
As part of the Council’s budget for 2022/23, an extra £1.5m is being invested into Environment and Highways services.
This includes recruiting an additional Environment Educational Officer.
You can find out more about how the extra cash will be spent by clicking here.
For helpful hints and tips on recycling and quick guides to ‘what goes where?’ please visit: www.recyclebwd.org