Rollout of smaller black bins under way

South Gloucestershire Council has begun the mammoth task of delivering 106,000 smaller 140-litre bins to residents across the district. The new bins will replace the current 240-litre black wheeled bins used for non-recyclable waste.

Around 4,000 properties in Bradley Stoke received their new, smaller black bins at the end of January; the remainder should have theirs by April at the latest.

The council claims that around half, 52 percent, of the household waste in refuse bins could be recycled and the roll out of the smaller bins is one of a number of measures it has introduced to reduce the amount of recyclable waste which ends up in the black bins.

As well as the smaller black bins, it also introduced weekly kerbside recycling collections last June, which means that people don’t have to store as much recyclable material between collections.

The scale of the task to replace the bins means it won’t happen overnight. Eight vehicles will be used to exchange the bins for two collection routes per day, making an average of 2,000 bins per day.

The old bins will be recycled at no additional cost. The average weight of the old 240-litre bin is 13kg, which will mean around 1,378 tonnes of plastic which will be recycled into new bins and other hard plastic containers.

Since weekly kerbside recycling collections were introduced last June, an additional 1,300 tonnes of recycling has been collected. This represents a 14 percent increase on recycling rates, including an extra 660 tonnes of paper and cardboard, 364 extra tonnes of food waste and an extra 315 tonnes made up of plastics, cans and textiles.

Cabinet member for communities and tourism, Cllr Heather Goddard, said:

“There’s no doubt that the amount of waste put into the black bins could be reduced by recycling more from home. Recycling is the right thing to do for our environment and our economy and I would encourage everyone to recycle even more in 2018.”

“People have already risen to the challenge since the weekly kerbside recycling collections began last year. The next step is to reduce the size of people’s waste bins, which will start to happen from Monday 15th January. This will reduce the amount of recyclable waste ending up in the black bins and help the council achieve its ambitious recycling target of 60 percent by 2020.”

“There have been a number of other initiatives brought in as part of the new approach, including introducing separate bags for disposable nappy waste to help families with young children manage their non-recyclable waste.”

“Waste that cannot be recycled is disposed of either as energy from waste or into landfill and the council has to pay at least £101 to dispose of every tonne of black bin waste in this way, which soon adds up.”

Photos: 1 New 140-litre bins are delivered and have their wheels attached. 2 Old 240-litre bins are collected.

Here’s how SGC says the bin exchange is supposed to work

Your black bin will be emptied as normal by our collection crews. A team will follow the collection vehicle, remove the wheels from the old bins and stack the bins, ready to be removed later in the day.
Another team will deliver the new 140-litre bins by following the same routes from a different start point, so you may have your new bin delivered before your old bin has been emptied and removed.
Each new bin will have an information pack under the lid about the bin and will include a leaflet about recycling from home.
Once the bins have been changed for a route, teams will revisit the area to check for problems and collecting any old bins that were missed during the main exchange.

Q: I have a child/children in nappies. How will I manage?

A: We provide a free nappy bag collection service for disposable nappy waste. You receive a roll of purple bags that can be put out next to your black bin on collection day, leaving more space in your bin for normal household waste. We also provide discounted reusable nappy kits to help reduce nappy waste. Visit www.southglos.gov.uk/nappies for more information and to order bags.

Q. I have a large family. How will I manage with a smaller bin?

A: If you have a large number of people permanently resident in your household, you can apply for extra black bin capacity. Unless you have an exceptionally large family, we recommend that you use the new bin and make full use of your recycling collections for at least two black bin collections before you apply for extra capacity. We assess all applications for this service on a case by case basis and we may need to arrange a home visit to review your needs. An annual administration fee is charged for this service and approved households are reviewed every year. Visit www.southglos.gov.uk/extrawasteservices for more information.

For more frequently asked questions (and answers), visit:

FAQs Changes [to] waste and recycling (SGC, Jan 2018) [PDF]

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