Bin collections - still time to have your say

Bin collections - still time to have your say

With the consultation closing on 1 August, residents still have time to have their say on how weekly food collections and three-weekly rubbish collections can be introduced with the least amount of disruption to households.

Rochdale Council’s Cabinet approved the proposal in June to roll out weekly food waste collections in a bid to provide an improved service and increase recycling rates. The new service will roll out in October 2015 and forms part of the council’s invest to save programme; providing savings of up to £1 million per year to help ease the saving requirements of other essential public services.

All households will be provided with free compostable bags to help residents recycle more food waste.

There are already a large number of items that residents can recycle to make more room in the rubbish bin. Residents can already recycle all juice and food cartons in the blue recycling bin along with their paper and card. All bleach and shampoo bottles can be recycled in the green recycling bin along with all glass bottles and jars, tins and deodorant and air-freshener cans.

For a full list of what you can recycle in each bin, visit:

www.recycleforgreatermanchester.com/rochdale

Councillor Jacqui Beswick, Cabinet Member for Environment said: “All councils in Greater Manchester collect the same items for recycling and we are still the worst performing borough in the region, recycling around 34.5%. So, it’s not just a simple case of recycling more items, but recycling more of what we currently can put in the recycling bins.

"The council needs to make big savings over the next two years which means we need to do things differently. The changes will see recycling rates increase rapidly and reduce the cost of disposal – helping to save council tax payers money to make better use of funds which could be spent on other essential public services. I urge residents to read the details of the service change and send us their views on how we can make delivering this new service a smooth transition for everyone.”

You can see full details of the new service and take part in the consultation by visiting www.rochdale.gov.uk/yourviews or email your comments to recycling@rochdale.gov.uk

The closing date for this public consultation is 1 August at 5pm. Responses and suggestions will be considered before decisions are made on how to deliver the new waste service.