Colchester Council approves wheelie bin recycling system

Colchester Council's cabinet met to discuss the strategy for Colchester for 2025 to 2040 where it approved the move to two wheelie bins – one for black blags and one for mixed recycling - for each household.

This came after a six-week public consultation which found that 83 per cent of 3,891 residents and businesses have backed the new recycling and waste strategy.

Labour councillor Dave Harris asked the cabinet about flats which do not have enough recycling facilities as well bin stores which have no, or limited, appropriate recycling capacity.

Inclusive - Portfolio Holder for Waste, Neighbourhood Services, and Leisure Martin Goss said there would be written communication, leaflets, and stickers as well as social media communication about the changes for inclusivity (Image: Submitted) Portfolio holder Councillor Mark Goss said: “As part of this project, flats are quite important, and the law is now stating that we have to roll out food waste to flats as well.

“So as part of this we will be auditing every single flat bin store in Colchester as part of this work.

“We will also be potentially dealing with the deficit of some bin stores that have no recycling which in the 21st century in the middle of a climate crisis is absolutely diabolical and we will try to fix that with the agents of the flats."

Collections - Councillor Andrea Luxford Vaughn also raised the issue of assisted collections and further voluntary community support to help people sort their waste and recycling (Image: Submitted) Councillor Andrea Luxford Vaughn said “I am a massive hater of wheelie bins, and I think I’m almost convinced it might make my life easier and I buy into helping the staff and the ecological reasons behind.

“And that we are going to have to do it regardless as the government is telling us to."

She added: “One of the things that has taken me over the line is the fact that it’s a pilot and we can maybe actually adapt it because of issues we will pick up.

“I certainly don’t want it rolled out in Wivenhoe and to have hundreds of questions asked of me, before I can say oh, we’ve identified it as a problem. " 

Lib Dem councillor Paul Smith said what impressed him was the Colchester Council was working closely with Essex County Council unlike previous years when the two councils were “in opposition with each other”.

Councillor Peter Schwier, Climate Czar and Cabinet Member for the Environment, Waste Reduction and Recycling at Essex County Council, said: “Colchester City Council is integral to the work of the Essex Waste Partnership, and we were delighted they were one of the first local councils to adopt the Waste Strategy for Essex back in early September.

“We are also really pleased to see the adoption of their own Recycling and Waste Strategy just yesterday, which will further underpin the county-wide waste strategy and deliver high-quality recycling and waste services which protect our environment.”

Information on the council's current recycling and rubbish services can be found here.