Frequently Asked Questions - Refuse Collection Service

Refuse collection

Biffa Leicester will takeover the household refuse collection from February 2004. The collection days will remain largely unchanged and the residents will be kept fully informed of any changes.

Recycling Box Service

1. Change in service from bags to boxes

Recyclable waste materials deposited in a box are easier to sort than when they are in bags and also the quality of recyclable materials in a box is higher because they stay cleaner and don't contaminate each other as they are sorted at kerbside and don't get mixed up.

The recyclable waste will be loaded onto special vehicles and segregated. This 'kerbside sorting' helps keeps costs low.

The residents will now be able to recycle glass bottles and jars. The recycled plastic Boxes are better for the environment as they can be used over and over again whereas green bags had to be replaced although the green bags were recyclable, they were often so contaminated that the reprocessor would reject them. They are safer for crews to handle. They used to suffer cuts from sharp objects poking through the green bags. Also there is no problem of bags splitting and spilling contents and the problems of replacement bags not being delivered will go.

People have expressed a preference for boxes. Many local authorities have found that participation rates improve with boxes and kerbside sorting

This change in the service from green bag to box service has been made to achieve the Government recycling targets of 40% by 2005 and we are confident of meeting these targets with your help.

The new system will increase the amount of recycling that Leicester can achieve. Now that glass bottles can be collected, all metal can be extracted at Bursom and biodegradable waste can be composted, it is expected that at least 60% will be recycled or recovered. The service will be a better quality one.

It is for reasons such as this that the 'bag' service has been replaced.

2. New Recycling Box Service

The new Recycling Box Service will commence from February/March 2004 and replace the existing green bag scheme. A 55 litre box made of recycled plastic will be given out to over 100,000 households in the city to recycle glass, paper and plastic.

You can put your house number/name on the space provided in front of the box or you can just paint the number straight onto the box if you prefer

Your Recycling Box will be collected weekly and on the same day as the wheelie bin refuse collection.

Green bags will not be collected once your box is delivered to you. Please put your box out for collection from the week after you receive it.

3. Delivery of boxes

The delivery of boxes will take place over February and March 2004 and starts week commencing 9th February 2004.

4. What you CAN and CANNOT put in the recycling box

YOU CAN PUT IN THE BOX	YOU CANNOT PUT IN THE BOX
GLASS (Bottles and jars without caps/lids) PAPER (Newspapers, magazines, junk mail and catalogues) PLASTIC (Milk and drink bottles) Look for the symbols or on plastic bottles. Please crush them before putting in the box.	BROKEN GLASS /PYREX ENVELOPES / CARDBOARD YELLOW PAGES / BOOKS CANS OTHER PLASTIC ITEMS

5. Metals- cans/tins

Cans and tins should be put in your wheelie bin as metals will be recovered from the waste mechanically and recycled at our recycling centre.

Metals including tin cans and drinks containers made out of steel will be separated from the other wastes using magnets and aluminium will be separated by a process called eddy-current, which is non-ferrous metal separator.

6. More plastic recyclables

If you have more plastic bottles for recycling than will fit in the Recycling Box, you can put them in a plastic carrier bag on top of the recycling box. You should crush the plastic bottles before putting them in the box as this will give you more space for your recyclables.
7. Types of plastic bottles

We want 2 types; HD or HDPE used for milk, shampoo, squash etc bottles and PE or PET used for fizzy drinks. Just look out for the following symbols: or

8. Cardboard

The paper from green bags used to be used to make cardboard. However the use of the paper is changed to making newsprint and cardboard and coloured paper like yellow pages cannot be included in the Recycling Box. Also, cardboard does not settle inside the collection lorries - large pieces get trapped and prevent the paper from settling evenly which means the paper compartment appears to be filled (and therefore has to be emptied) when really there is plenty of space in there. And remember, cardboard collected in your bin gets taken to the ball-mill where it is separated out either into compostable waste or into 'floc' which is recovered and used in place of fossil fuel in a cement kiln. You can also recycle it at the Recycling Bring Sites or at the Community Recycling Centres.

9. Kerbside Sorting

The contents of your box will be kept separate from your wheelie bin waste. The recyclable materials will be sorted by our vehicle crew at the kerbside and put into a recycling vehicle, which has different compartments for different items.

10. Lid for Recycling Box

You can request a lid for your box for using it inside the house etc. You should not put the boxes out for collection with lids on due to health and safety reasons as lids can blow away in the wind and hurt somebody.

Do not worry about the contents of the box getting wet in the rain. The box has holes so water will drain out if it rains.

11. Second Box

You can request another Box for your recyclables if you are filling your box and cannot get all your recyclable items in one box but checks will be made.

12. Assisted Collection Service

The existing assisted collection service will be maintained for the elderly and disabled who have difficulty in lifting the box and putting outside for collection. This service is available on request for both boxes and bins and is only available if there are no able bodied people in the house.

13. Service for flats

We are unable to provide this service for multi-storey flats and request that residents use the Recycling Bring Sites and Community Recycling Centres.

We will service small group of flats and provide them with three 140 litre bins instead of individual boxes, which will allow them to recycle glass, paper and plastics.

14. Notes for boxes

If any items other than the list are found in the Recycling Box, they will not be taken and a note will be left in the box describing what you are allowed to put in the box. Please put the rejected items in your wheelie bin.

15. Notes for wheelie bins

Wheelie bins will not be emptied and a note will be left if they contain concrete/rubble, unacceptable refuse such as, car parts, or are overfull/overweight or we cannot get access to the bin.

16. What happens to your waste?

The dry recyclables such as, paper and plastics will be compacted, bulked and transferred to re-processors for recycling.

All the household waste from your bin will be taken to the recycling centre at Bursom where the waste will be separated mechanically -

• Metals (steel and aluminium food and drink cans) will be extracted and sent for final processing.
• Organic rich material will be sent for further treatment to our composting facility at Wanlip. The compost produced will be used on agricultural land and the energy generated in the process will be supplied to the National Grid (enough to power 1500 homes).
• The non-fossil fuel derived from waste will be used in cement industry.