NEWS RELEASE

10 June 04

Garden waste and cardboard collections in B&NES celebrate First Anniversary

Bath & North East Somerset Council is proud to announce the first anniversary of the new garden waste and cardboard collections which started in June 2003 with funding from central government.

The collections proved so popular that the Council has committed itself to continuing the collections now that the funding has ended. Since the start, residents have used over 140,000 sacks and more than 7,000 homes are now using the wheeled bin service.

Cllr. Rosemary Todd, Executive Member for Environment and Sustainability, said: “The collections mean that residents can now deal with the garden waste that they cannot compost themselves, in an environmentally friendly way without having to take it away themselves.”

And she added: “The fact that we also collect cardboard free of charge as part of this collection means that there is even less for people to throw away, helping towards our priority of reducing landfill and our overall vision of Zero Waste.”

Residents can purchase a wheeled bin service for £36 for 3 years or paper sacks for 35p each for their garden waste and cardboard. Over the past year, the Council has been looking to find local retail outlets to sell the sacks to make it easier for people to obtain them and there are now 38 such outlets throughout the district.

To find out more about the collections or the local outlets, contact the Action Line on 01225 39 40 41 (actionline@bathnes.gov.uk) (www.bathnes.gov.uk). For those wishing to put out cardboard alone, the Action Line will also be able to let you know when your collection days will be.

Editors note 

The garden waste and cardboard collection services increases to 13 the items that Bath & North East Somerset Council will now collect regularly from your doorstep. These are: paper, food and drinks cans, glass bottles and jars, plastic bottles, foil, textiles and shoes, car batteries, engine oil, spectacles, mobile phones and toner and ink cartridges . 

Photo Opportunity: There will be an opportunity to join in the anniversary celebrations at 12.30pm on Monday June 14 at the Midland Road Refuse and Recycling depot in Bath. Cllr Rosemary Todd will be present along with the vehicle and staff with a birthday cake, balloons and party poppers.

For further information, contact:

Sarah Raban, Waste Campaigns Officer 01225 394394

Otherwise, please contact:

Julia Dean, Press Officer, Guildhall, Bath. Tel: (01225) 477827

email: communications_marketing@bathnes.gov.uk