Residents across the Burnham-On-Sea area will this week start to receive new blue recycling bags on their doorsteps.
The new recycling bags are a key part of the expanded service being introduced in the Burnham-On-Sea area by Somerset Waste Partnership (SWP) from Monday 28 February.
General rubbish will be collected every three weeks instead of every two, while the enhanced recycling collections will be weekly.
SWP says it will take around two weeks for all homes across the area to get their new blue bag. They will be left somewhere easy to find, usually in a recycling box, by teams following recycling crews.
As they are delivered, stickers will be stuck on recycling boxes making it clear what needs to go where once Recycle More starts. If the weather is wet, stickers may be left inside the bag for householders to apply themselves when boxes are dry.
With a 60-litre capacity, the Bright Blue Bags are tough, waterproof and washable, says SWP, who addd that the key features include:
- A weighted base so they will not blow away in the wind
- A Velcro-fastened lid so contents will not blow away
- Easy to fold-down and store when not in use
They are already working well in Mendip, South Somerset and Taunton Deane, helping Recycle More collect hundreds of tonnes of extra recycling each week.
Leaflets about the changes have also been arriving in recent days and residents are being urged to keep theirs somewhere safe for future reference.
As well as a simple “what goes where” guide to the new service, they contain an all-important collection day calendar, specific to each address.
This sets out when recycling and rubbish will be collected for the next 12 months. Two-thirds of homes will have a change in collection day, so it is important to check.
The leaflet makes clear your first Recycle More collection day. Please DO NOT put the Bright Blue Bag out for collection until then.
Some households will also have a one-off, extra Saturday rubbish collection on 26 February or 5 March. Where this applies, it will be made clear on the cover of the leaflet and on the calendar.
This is make sure no one goes more than three weeks between rubbish collections as they move over to the new service.
Recycle More adds the following items to weekly collections: plastic pots, tubs and trays; food and drink cartons, small household electrical items and batteries.
With much more being recycled, rubbish is collected every three weeks instead of every two.
With the new service, what goes into each recycling container is changing. From the first new collection, recycling should be sorted as follows:
- Green box – glass bottles and jars, and cartons (including Tetra Pak)
- Black box – paper and card
- Brown food waste bin – all food waste
The Bright Blue Bag is used to hold:
- Plastic bottles, pots, tubs and trays (rinsed and squashed/nested)
- Tins and cans (rinsed and crushed if safe to do so)
- Aerosols (empty)
- Foil (rinsed)
Household electricals can go in an untied carrier bag on top of recycling. The bags will be returned. Small batteries should go in a tied, see-through bag like a bread or freezer bag.
Visit somersetwaste.gov.uk/recycle-more for more information. Extra guidance and support can be requested using a form on this page, or by calling your district council.
SWP is hosting Facebook Q&A Days about the new service. The next two take place on Friday 18 February and Wednesday 16 March, running from 7am to 7pm.
Where it can, Recycle More will also improve recycling for homes with shared or communal collections, for example blocks of flats and homes of multiple occupancy.
These improvements will be brought in later in the year at a date to be confirmed and what is possible will depend on space and access.
