WORK to streamline and modernise Leicester’s network of recycling bank sites will get underway next month.
Leicester City Council currently provides recycling banks at 62 locations across the city. Most sites offer a glass recycling bank and about half (27) of the sites offer paper and cardboard recycling.
Following a public consultation carried out in 2019, the city council will now begin work to reduce the number of recycling bring banks. New facilities will be installed at 18 key sites, where people will be able to recycle a wider range of materials.
The amount of recycling collected from the bring banks has reduced significantly over the last ten years, since the introduction of the orange bag recycling service in 2011. This made it easier for people to recycle paper, card and glass as part of their kerbside collection.
Last year, over 18,000 tonnes of recycling was collected from the city’s orange bag service – a record for the city. By changing the type of bin used at the recycling bank sites, they can be emptied by the same vehicles that empty household bins - taking a specialist vehicle off the road and reducing the carbon impact of the recycling collections.
In the same year, just 88 tonnes of paper and 137 tonnes of glass was collected from the city’s recycling bank sites, down from 450 tonnes of paper and 375 tonnes of glass dropped off at the sites in 2010.
Deputy city mayor Cllr Adam Clarke, who leads on environment and transport, said: “The current recycling bank arrangements have been in place for many years. Since 2011, fewer and fewer people have been using these bring banks to recycle their waste paper, cardboard and glass, preferring the convenience of the orange bag scheme.
“As a result, the existing network of bring banks no longer represent an efficient or cost-effective way of helping people recycle.
“Many of the bring bank sites are barely used and starting to look a bit tired. We want to address by revamping and improving facilities at key sites across the city and removing any existing bring banks that are no longer needed.”
Textiles recycling banks will be unaffected. The council will continue to manage the 36 existing textiles recycling banks. Use of these banks has grown considerably in the last ten years. In 2010, just under 100 tonnes of textiles was collected from the banks. Last year, this was over 460 tonnes. Textiles cannot be collected for recycling at the kerbside.
Notices will be placed on all of the recycling banks due to be removed and work to remove or replace them with modern alternatives will be carried out over the coming weeks.
Service at the city’s two recycling centres – at Gypsum Close and Freemen’s Common – will continue as normal.