We’re working on plans to switch our garden waste collection service from bags to wheelie bins for the 2021 season.
There’s lots of preparation work to do as this is a big change for approximately 38,000 people who use the service
At the moment, we issue thousands of bags per year to residents. The bags are expensive, they're made of plastic and because they get so dirty, a lot of the time they're not recyclable. They're also shipped from China, so they make quite a large carbon footprint. They also go missing, blow away in the wind, and rip.
But most importantly, the change is so that we can look after our staff. In 2019, our teams lifted more than 4,400 tonnes of garden waste throughout the year. That's a lot of lifting!
So, in line with industry best practice, we are reducing the manual lifting involved in the current garden waste collection service with the introduction of bins , which are easier to move and can be mechanically lifted into the truck.
The benefits of this change for residents are that garden waste will be kept dry and tidy, while the bins will be easier to clean and are more robust.
Councillor Sue Dann, Cabinet member for Street Scene and the Environment, said: "This investment is part of our ongoing work to modernise the service making it more efficient and helping to make the city greener and cleaner.
"For residents, it will mean an end to worrying about the weight of each bag; and end of dragging a filthy, wet sacks out for collection and an end to them blowing off down the road, never to be seen again."
In the coming months, residents will be asked to register for the 2021 service and will then be added to the bin delivery schedule order.
Keep an eye on our Newsroom page and on our social media channels for the next update.