Posted on 26th Nov
Since the implementation of a glass recycling scheme, residents in Newark and Sherwood have increased the amount of glass recycled by 62.8%.
The amount of glass being collected over each eight-week cycle has been increasing and the district council collected 100 tonnes more in the last collection than the first one.
Coun Emma Oldham, portfolio holder for Climate and the Environment, said: “I am delighted that so much glass is now being diverted from incineration and being recycled.
“I want to thank every single person who recycles their glass, either through our service, the Recycling Ollerton and Boughton’s service, or via our bottle banks.
“Glass is an infinitely recyclable material, and it was so important that we facilitated the kerbside service across the district to ensure we are doing all we can to promote simple and convenient recycling.
“This will ultimately be a key part in helping us achieve our carbon net zero target in Newark and Sherwood by 2035.
“We’ve been able to create more local jobs because of introducing the scheme and the sale of the glass has helped fund these new posts too, which is fantastic.
“Our crews start glass collections later than other waste teams to delay the time that the first bin is emptied to reduce any noise impact. We have been regularly adding more properties and flat complexes over the past six months, and it still isn’t too late to opt into the scheme if you initially opted out. It’s completely free.
“As well as increasing the amount of glass recycled, our contamination rates have reduced in our recycling bins, meaning that more other materials are recycled.
“We are really making a huge difference as a district, and I’m enormously proud of that”
Historically, glass found its way into recycling bins, and this typically accounted for 8.2% of the contamination found in silver bins per month. This has now halved since the introduction of the new teal-lid glass recycling bin.
The council said there had also been no contamination issues with the glass collections, with feedback from its glass contractor saying the quality of glass was excellent.
Emma added: “This incredible effort is solely because of the hard work of our residents and their incredible attitude to supporting our glass scheme.
“Because of them we have improved our recycling rates, decreased our contamination rates and are getting closer to our carbon net zero target.”
The council said it was still committed to supporting Recycling Ollerton and Boughton (ROB). To support any increase in requests for its glass service, the council funded an additional 1,000 boxes and, for the first half of this year, there has been an increase of 11% in glass tonnage collected from ROB.
