Council continues to help residents 'sort it' with some changes to kerbside recycling services

Wiltshire Council is asking for residents to continue their good work to help 'Let's Sort It!' with some changes to the kerbside recycling service.

From 5 June, the council will be able to collect small rechargeable electricals as part of residents' fortnightly recycling service. These items include:

• MP3 players
• Electric toothbrushes
• Shavers/trimmers
• All vapes and e-cigarettes
• Smart watches
• Mobile phones
• Digital cameras
• Charging devices/power banks
• Wireless earphones

All residents need to do is to place these items in a carrier bag next to their blue-lidded bin (not inside it) at their next collection date from 5 June onwards.

The collection has been made possible by making two changes to the materials collected via the kerbside collection service from the same date (5 June). Textiles and shredded paper will no longer be collected for recycling via the kerbside scheme.

Recycling textiles collected at the kerbside has become increasingly difficult because they tend to be of a lower quality and are often rain damaged when left out for collection. Good quality reusable clothing and textiles can be taken to a charity shop, household recycling centre, or a clothing bank which people can find at many supermarkets. Textiles and clothing that are not suitable for resale or reuse should be put in the general waste bin where they will be used for energy recovery.

Instead of putting shredded paper in the blue-lidded bin it can be composted at home, taken to a household recycling centre, or it can be put in the general household waste bin for energy recovery. The council has stopped collecting shredded paper at the kerbside for recycling as it is too small for the machines to recognise and end up as a waste in the processing plant and sent to landfill.

Cllr Nick Holder, Cabinet Member for Waste, said: "We are always looking at ways we can help to achieve our aim of supporting residents to recycle as much as possible and protect the environment, as stated in our Business Plan - and kerbside collections of small rechargeable electricals will help with that.

"We live in a tech age and we're sure many homes are littered with old and unused or broken rechargeable electrical items that are clogging up drawers and cupboards. As long as they are no bigger than a typical shoe box, we'll happily take those items away to safely recycle them into much-needed brand new equipment.

"We hope people understand why we've had to remove the option of putting shredded paper and textiles into their recycling bins. These types of items were proving to be problematic to recycle so we feel we've made a choice that allows us to focus our efforts elsewhere.

"We thank everyone for their continued support and efforts to recycle, we've already had a tremendous response to our Let's Sort It! campaign and our battery collection service. It demonstrates that people are committed to doing what they can to help us sort it."

More information about Wiltshire Council's recycling service can be found at Kerbside recycling