News

Blue bin bags flawed, but recycling up

By Laura Herbert
April 23, 2012

The lead councillor for environment in Wokingham admits he has to modify his blue bags to fit over bins.

Since the launch of Wokingham’s new waste and recycling scheme three weeks ago, many people have complained of struggling to fit the official blue bags over dustbins.

Councillor Gary Cowan, executive member for environment, admitted the handles on the bags do make it tight to fit over bins, but he has adapted his blue bags by snapping the handles to create four tabs.

Blue bin bag scheme a 'catastrophic failure'

Of changing the production of the bags, he said: “As this is a simple solution we would leave it as it is. But, we will continue to monitor the whole service and if there are areas we can improve, we will.”

The council has reported a 10 per cent increase in recycling, which has gone from fortnightly to weekly under the new scheme, and a 10 per cent reduction in the amount of waste going to landfill in the first week of the new waste collection service.

More than five million blue bags were issued for the new service but Brookside Church has reportedly not received any blue bin bags.

Extra bin bag plea from churches

Linda Mitchell, operations manager at the church in Brookside Close, Lower Earley, said: “It feels like it has been a bit of a fiasco. We had no communication in advance and made several calls and given unreliable information, which was given in good faith.

“The people who I have dealt with have been very helpful, but it is ridiculous we are now nearly three weeks into the new system.”

Complaints flood in over new waste collection

Peter Baveystock, manager for waste and recycling, said: “If they have enlisted they will receive 80 bags. Places of religious worship get 80 bags and recycling boxes.

“Anything that is not a place of religious worship, such as community centres, have to provide their own collections.”

This week Wokingham Liberal Democrats called on the council to revisit the variety of products it can collect for recycling.

The council has issued new guidance answering queries such as these on its website at www.wokingham.gov.uk

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Please change these awful, cheap, flimsy and pathetic bags. WDC has given us a worse service on the bags alone - and no, I don't buy the idea that Conservatives have come over all green and cuddly. This is not the result of a focused attempt to reduce landfill and increase recycling, it's an attempt to give residents one of the few services they value on the cheap.

Mark Gray
24/04/2012 at 14:40

@YoYo-Sindlesham and @ssb - the recycling policy of plastics has not changed with the new collections. You couldn't recycle plastics other than plastic bottles last year and you can't this year. If you were putting it in the boxes last year, it was being thrown away in the recycling centres - the same amount went into landfill, just via a different route.

I agree we *should* be able to recycle those plastics, and other councils who send the waste to the very same collection centres are accepting all types of recyclable plastics, but in Wokingham the black boxes haven't been a place for non-botle plastics for quite a long time (if ever, because I don't remember it, although others apparently do).

mavdo, Wokingham
24/04/2012 at 13:14

Where on earth are they getting these statistics?

Sorry to pit general observation and common sense in the face of these supposedly 'hard facts', but... (1) everyone I know is double bagging by putting an shop bought bag(s) inside the blue council bags, because they split open -- 'rubbish' for the environment, pardon the pun. (2) people now realise that they can only recyle plastic drinks bottles and all the other material that used to go in the recycling bins now go into the rubbish bags (so that is an increase in rubbish and a decrease in recycling). And (3) in our area our weekly pick up now happens, not during the early hours of the morning as before, but during the afternoon school run, with children now having to skirt bin men and weave themselves and their bikes in and out of the road to avoid the men and machine, while trying to get home. Not a good scenario really.

All around I'd say, for our area anyway, a right disaster.

ssb
24/04/2012 at 10:50

This is what the Tory candidate for Winnersh has Tweeted: '... #libdems have shamefully attempted to make political capital of #wokyrubbish teething troubles. It will catch up with them May 3rd'

You couldn't write this stuff yourself.... Now I thought this guy was out of touch until I read this....

'Full chats tonight in #winnersh about #wokyrubbish I can influence #libdems can't. One resident suggested cinema tragic lights off a night?'

Anyone even suggesting that the lights at the Cinema should be switched off needs talking to. Road safety in Winnersh is on many peoples minds.

Even if you are supporting Tory in Winnersh..... have a word with this man.

@No2MarkAshwell

Ivor Biggun, winnersh
24/04/2012 at 08:17

Utter farce, I can fully understand that the Cons are too arrogant or just to scared to knock doors canvassing for the 3rd of May. But where are the rest of them - perfect opportunity to exploit this nonsense and give the Blues a bloody nose !!!

Tru Blue NoMore, WOKINGHAM
23/04/2012 at 18:11

Recyclying up????? Thats because they council havent cracked down on the recycling policy. You know the previous article on this site where we cant recycle anything but plastic bottles.

Does this idiot take credit for everything.. Unless the council allow all recyclable plastics as before then they will have to crack down on people meaning they have then put those materials in the Blue bags that are already proven to be a farce thus reducing the amount of Recycling.

Well done to the guy in charge for trying to make a twist to a big failure.

YoYo-Sindlesham, Sindlesham
23/04/2012 at 16:56

I noticed three people carrying heavy plastic bags (full of rubbish) and depositing them in the big rubbish bags at Wokingham train station on two mornings last week! And this is when residents have 70 or so blue bags left!! At least it's not far for the WBC bin guru to go and collect!!

Blackburn Rovers fan, Wokingham
23/04/2012 at 16:28

Families of five or more get extra bags for free. The form you need to complete (proactively) will be sent to residents - presumably who have expressed an interest - in.... wait for it..... May.

Ivor Biggun, winnersh
23/04/2012 at 15:37

When to the "dump" this weekend which was unusually busy, saw loads of people with black bin bags chucking them in the general refuse section. I asked the guy who worked there if he had noticed any changes now the blue bin bags have arrived. No shock to hear "Yes much more busy".

I think there is too much propaganda and not enough facts.

Woky Local, Wokingham
23/04/2012 at 14:12

Interesting comment by Tonk about what is included in the calculations. Would love to see how the stats were created, but suspect that won't happen. It is really easy to distort stats and make them tell the story you want them to. I suspect it also doesn't factor in those who couldn't be bothered with WBC's ridiculous scheme and just take things to the tip themselves. There is absolutely no way that the council can come up with any accurate meaningful stats after such a short period of time. They really are deluding themselves and all of the self praise is quite irritating!

Smiffy, Reading
23/04/2012 at 14:10

@JustPeter - the things you can put in the recycle boxes hasn't changed. You've just been putting in the wrong things for ages, contaminating the recycling. It has been plastic bottles only for years. Other plastics would be filtered out by machine/hand at the recycling centres and discarded to landfill. In all, the amount of your rubbish that actually gets recycled has changed very little.

I don't believe that recycling rates have risen especially as green waste will fall through the floor, as Tonk says. The amount of rubbish I've seen scattered all over the bushes near me is a disgrace. I don't know where it comes from, but it's certainly gone up massively. Perhaps that is where the drop in rubbish has come from. The blue bag scheme is an awful policy and I'll be voting for anyone who DOESN'T support it in the elections next month. According to our local Tory candidate, he "ensured weekly bin collections remained" and "encouraged recycling". If he means he had a hand in this bunch of nonsense, I'm not ticking his box in a million years.

mavdo, Wokingham
23/04/2012 at 14:10

A small cardboard box can easily be used to hide non-recyclable material for those protesting via means of non-compliance.

Ivor Biggun, winnersh
23/04/2012 at 14:03

Utter nonsense. Contamination rates have risen 10% more like. People are loading their recycling boxes with all sorts of stuff out of frustration with the council's stealth tax on green waste and extra bags. Take a walk round next recycling day and look what's inside the boxes if you don't believe me, it's obvious.

Anthony Vick
23/04/2012 at 13:54

Just had a lovely phone call from my wife. The blue bags are so weak, that one split open and has spread the local area with detritus. So it looks like it is back to double bagging, which is great for the environment. Why WBC can't just use wheelie bins I don't know. They obsess about weekly collections and being anti-wheelie bin, but I massively preferred Reading's wheelie bins despite the fortnightly collection.

Christian99
23/04/2012 at 13:40

Our recycling is now down dramatically. we only use 2 or 3 milk bottles a week. All our other recyclable plastic that used to go in our recycling is now in our blue bag that does not fit the dustbin. All in all not a big success. The Council website is broken when you try to find out which week is your garden collection for an overpriced paper bag. They have failed to collect our recycling more than they have succeeded.

Residents need to look up Veolia on the Internet. They need to see the sort of company our council has chosen to partner with. They have been chucked out by some councils over their activities in the Middle East.