Kerbside glass collections coming

Residents will soon be able to recycle their glass at home, as well as a wider range of plastics.

Hertsmere Borough Council is introducing kerbside glass collections this autumn with the roll out due to start in Potters Bar in September.

New black wheelie bins - the same size as those for normal waste but with a different coloured lid - will be delivered to all households which currently have a black box for plastic and cans.

Everything that went into the black box can go in the new bin as well as all coloured glass, yoghurt pots, margarine tubs, microwave meal trays and plastic bags.

Councillor Jean Heywood, Environment Portfolio Holder, said: "We are thrilled to be rolling out glass collections this autumn, when we will also collect a greater range of plastics.  This is something that residents have asked for when we have consulted them so I'm sure they will welcome the news as well."

Leader of the Council Morris Bright added: "We regularly consult on our services and ask residents what they want us to provide so we can make improvements.  Recently we specifically asked whether they wanted us to add glass to the list of materials we collect from their homes and the vast majority supported the idea so we have worked hard to introduce a new scheme."

The council is able to collect the new materials following a successful grant bid to Hertfordshire Waste Partnership, which will pay for the new bins, and a change in where the recycling is taken.  The contents of the black box - plastic bottles and cans - is now taken to Pearce Recycling in St Albans which will also accept glass and a wider range of plastics when the new bins are introduced.

Councillor Heywood continued: "Hertsmere's recycling rate is currently around 40% thanks to the efforts of our residents and the collection of these additional materials will help us build on this and hopefully we will be up to 50% by 2012.

"Recycling has many benefits – it reduces the amount of waste sent to landfill which is really important as sites are rapidly running out of space and it also saves energy and lessens our impact on the planet's limited resources.

"We will let residents know nearer the time how the scheme will be rolled out and whether their collection arrangements will change."

The scheme is being funded by a £400k grant from central government via Hertfordshire Waste Partnership (HWP) which is administered by Hertfordshire County Council.

The planned roll out of glass collections to other areas is as follows but is subject to change:

• Potters Bar and surrounding area - September/October 2010
• Borehamwood - November/December 2010
• Radlett, Elstree and surrounding area - January 2011
• Bushey - February 2011