No more caddies for resident recycling

Residents of South Cambridgeshire no longer need to use their caddies when recycling paper.

From today (11 December) all waste paper, such as newspapers, magazines, junk mail and envelopes, should be put directly into the blue wheelie bin.

The move to simplify the recycling process was approved by Councillors in September. Since then, the Council has kept residents informed via regular website and social media updates, a large article in its quarterly resident’s magazine and the local media.

Computer modelling carried out by the Council’s shared waste team suggests current recycling rates will be at least maintained, if not improved, from now on.

Ending the collection from caddies means fewer waste collection vehicles are needed, which will help save taxpayers around £670,000 during the next seven years compared to the existing system.

Fewer trucks are needed because vehicles which can collect recycling mixed together, without paper needing to be kept separate, needn’t have two sections and can carry more waste.

This means collection rounds can now be completed without refuse trucks having to return to base to be emptied as often. As a result, the Council’s recycling vehicles will cover around 26,000 fewer miles on South Cambridgeshire’s roads every year.

This change to vehicle operations is also good for the environment, as it will lead to lower fuel costs and reduced CO2 emissions.

A video outlining the reasons for the change, as well as detailing the recycling process for paper, has been released on the Council’s social media channels as a further way of keeping residents informed, and has already been viewed more than 5,000 times.

Residents can keep their caddies and use them however they please, with waste bosses encouraging people to show how they’re giving caddies a new life to be in with the chance of winning a prize.

A competition now underway gives residents the chance to win a Joseph Joseph ‘Stack’ recycling bin worth £100. All residents should do is share a picture via the Council’s social media channels (@SouthCambs on Twitter or search for ‘South Cambridgeshire’ on Facebook) of their caddy being re-used for another purpose. Residents can also enter by emailing a picture to communications@scambs.gov.uk. This competition runs until 9am on Tuesday 2 January 2018.

Cllr Mark Howell, South Cambridgeshire District Council’s Cabinet Member for Environmental Services, said: “We’ve spent the last few months giving residents advance notice of this, and now the big day is finally here!

“I want to re-assure residents that their paper will still be recycled when it goes into the blue bin. It gets taken to a processing plant at Waterbeach, sorted from other materials, placed into bales, and then sent for re-use.

“Remember the old caddy is now yours to keep and can be used around the house for whatever you like. We’re seeing some imaginative entries into our caddy up-cycle competition, but there’s still plenty of time to enter and be in with the chance of winning a great – and useful – prize.”

Residents who no longer wish to keep and re-use their caddy can take it to either of the Milton or Thriplow Household Recycling Centres. They shouldn’t be placed in wheelie bins.