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| Issue : February/March 2001 | |||
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Environment | ||
| » More blue bins to push green drive: |
 A massive expansion of Hull's blue bin paper recycling scheme has been given the go-ahead by the City Council's cabinet committee. The move, which would more than treble the number of homes with blue bins from 35,000 to 115,000, is a key part of the City Council's strategy to meet tough new Government targets for recycling rubbish.
Under the National Waste Strategy, recycling of household waste will have to rise from seven per cent now to 14 per cent in 2003 and 21 per cent in 2005. Blue bins were first introduced into parts of Hull in 1997 and currently account for nearly half of the city's recycling. The resulting savings in landfill tax, which is payable for rubbish sent to landfill sites, have helped fund the scheme. An initial batch of 10,000 new bins will go out to residents and businesses in the north-west and Sutton Park areas of the city. The first paper collection in these areas is scheduled for May. All the extra bins should be in place by early next year. As well as increasing the number of blue bins, the City Council is proposing to set up more community mini-recycling centres and two new Household Waste Recycling Centres. A new recycling and education officer has also been appointed to raise awareness of the schemes in schools. City Council leader, Coun. Patrick Doyle said: "We know that the blue bin scheme works and that expanding it will help the city reach the Government's first recycling target of 14 per cent. Beyond that we will have to look at a range of new recycling schemes and ways of cutting the waste we produce. We will be asking members of the public for their views on this later in the year." |
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