Waste collections will be cleaner and greener

Date published: 11 November 2009

Bury Council is gearing up to introduce new borough-wide rubbish and recycling collection routes as from Tuesday 24 November.

The new routes are part of a plan to reduce carbon emissions by cutting down on fuel usage, make better use of the collection vehicles and extend recycling opportunities into rural areas. This is the first major change to collection routes for eight years and the first since kerb side recycling was introduced. As a result 20,000 households out of nearly 82,000 are to be given new rubbish and recycling collection days.

The changes follow a borough-wide council review of waste collection arrangements. This has taken account of issues such as the working patterns of waste collection crews, the numbers of bags or bins put out for collection and the ease of collection from different types of properties. All of the results were analysed and new routes modelled, selected and checked by staff from the council’s Waste Management Service .

The frequency of collections will not change, but the time of day that collections take place will . This means many of the collections that currently take place in the afternoon will move to earlier in the day and some of those that currently take place in the morning will move to the afternoon. To avoid missing a collection, residents are reminded that bins and bags must always be put out for collection by 7am on collection day.

New calendars are being delivered to all households ahead of the new routes being brought in. The calendars tell residents which bins and bags will be collected each week for the next 12 months and give an up-to-date list of what items can and can’t be recycled. Separate leaflets are being distributed to households where there is a change to the collection day. to provide more information about the alterations.

Glenn Stuart, Head of Waste Management said “We are doing everything we can in readiness for making these changes. To prepare, the crews are making sure they are up to speed by familiarising themselves with the new more effective routes. We have also put plans in place to make sure that if a collection is missed when the new routes are introduced we will return and carry out the collection the following day. We want to reassure local residents that we will be working hard to make sure the changes take place smoothly and customer satisfaction with the service we provide remains high.”

Councillor Dorothy Gunther, Executive Member for Environment and Transport said “We all know about the threat of climate change. These changes will help reduce the amount of carbon dioxide we release into the environment and improve recycling opportunities for more residents. Taken as a whole, these changes will significantly improve the collection service for everyone. The service will be more effective, kinder to the environment, and better value for the council taxpayer.”

Collection dates and the latest advice about bin and bag collections is available at www.bury.gov.uk/binandbagcollections or from the Customer Contact Team on 0161 253 5353. Online reporting of problems is available 24/7 at www.bury.gov.uk/reportaproblem as is advice from Bury Council information line on 0161 253 5555.