Glass recycling that is picked up from outside your home is finally set to be introduced in Reading next year.
Currently, residents must recycle glass by using one of the 49 bottle bank locations dotted across the town.
But these locations have become focal points for flytipping, with bad examples of rubbish dumping at Kensington Park and a bottle bank being removed in Erleigh Road due to persistent flytipping.
Opposition councillors have been hammering at the Labour administration at Reading Borough Council to introduce glass recycling outside of homes for years.
Neighbouring West Berkshire Council has provided this service for more than 10 years, as have other councils in the country.
Reading Borough Council is finally due to introduce in autumn next year, following a decision made by councillors at a recent meeting.
Councillor Rob White (Green, Park), the leader of the opposition, said: “I wanted to support the fact that Reading has come a long way.
“It was back in 2019 when Reading council, run by Labour, was one of the worst councils in the country for recycling.
“Green councillors have been lobbying along with others, and Reading now has a middling recycling rate and I’m sure you’ll all agree there’s still some way to go to get into the higher echelons of recycling as well as encouraging more reuse from our residents.”
The introduction of kerbside glass recycling has been prompted by the government’s ‘Simpler Recycling’ initiative requiring all local authorities to collect from the kerbside the same core recyclable materials, including glass, paper, card, metal cans, plastic bottles, tubs and trays and food waste, by March 31, 2026.
However, kerbside glass recycling in Reading is set to begin next autumn instead.
While the Environment Act of 2021 set out the Simpler Recycling agenda, councils have been waiting for secondary legislation to determine how new recycling schemes will be funded, which is described as ‘new burden funding’ as the introduction of simpler recycling is a duty that has been placed on councils to deliver.
Karen Rowland (Labour, Abbey), lead councillor for environmental services said: “We had been waiting for new burdens funding the question for many years, and I’ve constantly responded that we were not going to be spending taxpayers’ money, that we were not going to move forward with it until we had new burdens funding and a specific outline of how we were going to take this forward so there is no risk there.”
She then said that the council will need to order trucks to collect the glass from homes.
The scheme in Reading will see glass being collected separately on a fortnightly basis.
Although ‘comingling’ recycling in one collection was considered, this option was not deemed viable as it would have required changes to the Smallmead recycling centre that would cost £10.25 million.
Councillors agreed to introduce kerbside glass recycling at the policy committee meeting on Monday, July 21.
