Mendip 'now ready' for bin changes - with more recycling taken in three-weekly collections
Plans to dramatically increase recycling rates across Somerset are about to begin after the upgraded £3 million waste transfer site at Evercreech formally opened this week.
The county’s waste partnership say the pandemic has not delayed planned changes which will see the Mendip area move to collections once every three weeks later this month.
As part of that, the new facility allows residents to recycle more items by using a new blue bag - which is now being sent out.
Other areas of Somerset will be following suit over the next 18 months.
The partnership say by people recycling more they’ll save millions of pounds each year.
Members of the Somerset Waste Board were given a tour to see the development first-hand.
They were joined by the High Sheriff of Somerset, Mary-Clare Rodwell, who lives locally and has a keen interest in the partnership's work to reduce waste and encourage recycling.
The expanded recycling service is being introduced to 51,000-plus homes across Mendip in the two weeks starting 26 October.
As well as protecting the environment and helping tackle climate change, it will cost around £2 million less a year.
Mendip is the only area getting Recycle More this year, with the rest of the county due to follow in three phases over the next 18 months.
The service is being introduced to new areas as depots are upgraded to handle the extra recycling, something difficult to do all at once without disrupting services.
Serving all of Mendip and parts of South Somerset, Evercreech is the biggest of the partnership's five depots, which are together seeing £7m investment to make the new service possible.
The depots are where Somerset’s fleet of recycling collection trucks - operated by SWP’s collections contractor SUEZ - unload. Materials are then baled and sent off to be reprocessed into new products and packaging.
Almost 28,000 tonnes of recycling were handled at Evercreech last year. This includes 1,528 tonnes of plastic - a figure expected to rise dramatically once Recycle More starts.
Recycle More is adding the following to weekly kerbside recycling collections:
Plastic pots, tubs and trays
Food and drink cartons such as Tetra Pak
Small batteries and small electrical items
New containers, or a bright blue bag, are being delivered to homes across Mendip to help hold the extra recycling.
With more recycling collected kerbside every week, rubbish will be collected every three weeks instead of every two.
For more about the changes click here