The third bin will be for dry recycling, like paper, thin cardboard and tin cans. It will replace the existing orange bag scheme. The bins will be 240 litres in size, larger than the standard 140 litre grey wheelie bins. Because of their larger size the recycling bins will be collected fortnightly, with grey wheelie bins continuing to be collected weekly.
Councillors made the decision after a consultation with residents found 63.4 per cent support for the new recycling bins. A questionnaire in the council newspaper, theNews, and online, attracted 1,976 responses. A total of 1,253 said they preferred to have a larger third wheelie bin instead of orange bags, with 420 preferring to keep the orange bags (21.3 per cent), 170 wanting to buy their own clear bags for recycling, and 133 preferring to have a smaller third wheelie bin collected weekly.
The council decided to replace the orange bag scheme because it’s expensive to buy and distribute the bags to every household. It cost around £300,000 to buy and distribute the orange bags, so that money will be saved each year with the new wheelie bin scheme. Some residents have also complained that the bags tear, blow away, and make the streets untidy.
The bins will be delivered to all households which use wheelie bins later in the summer. Until then residents should continue to use their orange bags for doorstep recycling.
Residents of flats won't be affected by the change and will continue to use their communal bins.
Darren Henaghan, Corporate Director of Housing and Environment, said: “Because of the amount of savings the council has to make we’re looking very carefully at everything we do, including recycling.
“The orange bag recycling is quite expensive to run, and replacing it with a wheelie bin is a cheaper option, while still enabling us to offer a good doorstep recycling collection service.
“I’d like to thank everyone who took the time to respond to the consultation which we held. It was very helpful to find out what people’s views were.”
Notes for editors
The consultation was held in two editions of the council’s newspaper, theNews, which is delivered to every household, and also online via the council website.
The full voting was:
1) Introduction of a larger third wheelie bin for recycling - 1,253 (63.4 per cent)
2) Introduction of a smaller third wheelie bin for recycling - 133 (6.7 per cent)
3) Delivery of free orange bags to stop (residents to buy their own bags) - 170 (8.6 per cent)
4) Continue with orange bag scheme - 420 (21.3 per cent)
Most Barking and Dagenham residents have a grey wheelie bin for residual waste, which is collected weekly, a green wheelie bin for garden waste, collected fortnightly, and orange bags for dry recycling, collected weekly.