Improved recycling service will see cardboard kerbside collections

Cardboard is to be collected at the kerbside again as part of an improved recycling service across the Shropshire Council area from October.

Residents will be able to recycle cardboard at the kerbside from this autumn as part of the roll-out of a new recycling collection service provided by Shropshire Council and their waste contractor, Veolia.

The new service is being introduced in phases from October 2016, starting in the Shrewsbury area followed by North Shropshire in November, South Shropshire - December, Oswestry in January 2017 and Bridgnorth in February 2017.

A new blue bag will be provided for paper and cardboard, and as part of the changes plastics, cans and glass will no longer need to be separated and can be mixed together in recycling boxes.

The collection of cardboard has been made possible by Veolia purchasing a new fleet of collection lorries.

Mal Price, Shropshire Council’s Cabinet member with responsibility for waste management, said: “This is great news for all of us. For a long time people have told us that they want to recycle cardboard at the kerbside, and for a long time we’ve been working hard to make this happen.

“Removal of cardboard from garden waste collections was forced on Shropshire Council and Veolia by a change to national composting standards in November 2011.

"This meant that composters would no longer accept cardboard collected in the garden waste bin. Since these changes, Shropshire Council and Veolia have been exploring ways to collect cardboard for recycling from the kerbside in the future and I’m really pleased that we’ll now be able to do so as part of this new service.”

Steve Mitchell, Director for Veolia, said: “The new system is an easier way to recycle. People will soon receive a letter and more information about the service, and we ask them not to put any cardboard out until the new service starts in their area. Residents in Shropshire already recycle 52% of their household waste, and together with the new system, we hope we can recycle even more.”

In addition to these changes, residents in the former Shrewsbury & Atcham area will soon be able to recycle food waste by mixing it in with their garden waste. They will be receiving a food caddy during this month and their food waste service starts in May.

Residents in the former north and south Shropshire districts have been able to recycle food waste with their garden waste for several years. North Shropshire residents already use kitchen caddies, and residents in south Shropshire will be receiving a caddy for the first time later this month. Residents in the former Bridgnorth and Oswestry districts will receive the new food waste collection service once a new high-tech in-vessel composting facility designed to serve the area is built. It is expected that a planning application will be submitted this year with a view to the facility becoming operational in 2018.

Cardboard is already collected in the Telford & Wrekin area.