Households are reminded to look after their bins
NEARLY 400 large food waste bins and bags for recycled glass have had to be replaced since the new method of waste collection was introduced in September.
States of Guernsey Trading Assets Deputy Managing Director Richard Evans said it was not a bad result given that 27,000 receptacles had originally been given out. He said 240 large caddies for food waste and 140 bags for glass had been replaced and he was very pleased with the take-up of the new recycling streams.
‘Experience from other places tells us that by replacing the bins and bags when people have lost them there is greater participation,’ he said.
‘We anticipate continuing to replace them free, at least for the foreseeable future, for that reason. If we have repeat offenders who obviously don’t seem to be looking after their bins and bags we may consider charging, but there are no plans to do so currently.’
He said Guernsey Waste was encouraging everyone to ‘do their bit’ to look after their receptacles. This included reminding householders to write their house name in the space provided on the front of both and ensuring they were taken back in on the morning after collection.
A spokesperson for Guernsey Waste said: ‘The food bins and glass bags are used throughout the UK and as such are designed for all weather conditions.
‘However, in the event that any of them do escape, having the house name written on them means that once they are found they can be returned to their owners. We have seen quite a number of instances of this in recent weeks, proving the value of labelling the containers.
‘We will also be working with the collection contractors to ensure that they, too, do their bit, in particular asking them to return the food bins and glass bags to the property they were collected from, including making use of anything that householders have put in place to secure the containers.’
He said Guernsey Waste was committed to ensuring that every household had the ability to participate in all elements of the kerbside scheme, so should a food waste bin or glass bag need replacing despite the householder’s best efforts to safeguard it, they should contact Guernsey Waste on 231234 or email recycle@gov.gg for a free replacement.
