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The Council informs us that the popular orange sack scheme which provides weekly collections of recycled household waste for 83,000 households is to be extended to high-rise blocks in a new trial.

The council will spend £70,000 adapting the existing arrangements which enable people in houses and low-rise properties to leave the sacks outside their front door on their normal refuse collection day.

Residents on a group of pilot estates will receive regular supplies of orange sacks which they can put outside their flat for collection by estate cleaning staff on the same day each week.

Cabinet member for the environment Kathy Tracey said, “The orange sack scheme has been amazingly successful in helping people to recycle more. Now we want to see if we can make it work on estates where people do not have weekly doorstep collections. Because all estates have different layouts we will be starting in the summer with a trial in two areas of the borough. We need to make sure the collections are properly managed so that sacks are not left out for long periods cluttering corridors or landings.

Estate cleaning staff will also regularly check around orange banks in public areas to make sure they do not suffer from dumping. If the scheme takes off we may be able to reduce the numbers of bulk refuse bins on estates."

People living in private blocks with orange recycling banks will also get extra help. The council plans to provide residents here with reusable bags which they can use to store and carry their household waste for recycling.

Details of the areas selected for the council estates trial will be confirmed in May. All residents will receive full information before the scheme starts. If the trials are a success housing and recycling staff will draw up plans for extending the service to 24,000 homes on the council’s estates cross the borough.

The current orange sack scheme was introduced in March 2003. Since it was launched the amount of recycled waste collected from local homes has increased by more than 120 per cent. Across the borough residents are currently recycling just over 20 per cent of their household waste.

The orange sacks can be used for paper, card, glass, cans and plastic bottles.

February 3, 2006