A revolution in how residents in Reading recycle has to come to thousands of households.
From this week and for the first time, people will be able to leave plastic bags and film for doorstep collections thanks to a new trial being pioneered by waste firm re3.
It joins food waste and general recycling collections.
In this initial phase, 4,000 households will take part, and are asked to place the plastic into special blue bags and place them into the red recycling wheelie bin.
Cllr Karen Rowland (Labour, Abbey) Reading Borough Council’s lead councillor for environmental services and community safety, said: “There is no doubt that we are very excited to be a part of this trial and invite all selected households to participate and follow the provided instructions.
“Plastic bags and wrapping pose a significant challenge to the industry, as they accounted for 22% of all UK consumer plastic packaging in 2020, but only 8% of what is recycled.
“Currently, the only way for residents to recycle plastic bags and wrapping is at supermarket front-of-
“This trial will help us understand how we can ultimately recycle the maximum amounts of plastic bags and wrapping by ensuring we develop the best methods of collection for all our residents.”
And, she added, it would enable the council to gather information into the materials used in the plastic bags and film.
“In Reading, this initiative is another step towards achieving our net-zero ambitions as set out within the Council’s Climate Emergency declaration,” Cllr Rowland said, pointing out that prior to the trial residents had to take their plastic film and bags to supermarket collection points.
She is also the chair of the Joint Waste Disposal Board, which is hosted at Bracknell Forest Council and includes Wokingham Borough Council.
The trial is planned to last two years and expand into these other local authorities, with 20,000 households taking part. If successful, all households will be able to recycle on their doorsteps.
It is part of a larger £2.9m Flexible Plastic Fund ‘FlexCollect’ project, which involves nine councils across England, and aims to inform the government and industry on how plastic bags and wrapping should be added to existing household collection services.
