Recycled household waste in North Kesteven to be incinerated in '˜one-off' move to catch up with snow-affected bin collections

In anticipation of improved conditions, the aim is to be back on the road first thing on Monday morning.

In order to catch-up and collect those bins that went uncollected over three days this last week, householders whose bin day falls on Wednesday, Thursday or Friday are asked to put out both their black residual waste bin and their green-lidded recycling bin on bin day this coming week.

On this occasion both bins will be collected together, emptied into the same freighter and transferred to the Energy from Waste plant for incineration and transformation into electricity, says the authority.

Council Leader Coun Richard Wright said this was an exceptional circumstance in order to clear around 30,000 unemptied bins and achieve a prompt and effective resumption of normal service in as short a time as possible.

“While I appreciate that this unusual course of action runs contrary to everything we do as a proactive council in promoting high levels of clean, good quality of recycling, it is very much a one-off with a view to recovering normality for our customers as swiftly as possible.

“We continue to aspire to high recycling standards and to encourage more and better recycling, but on this occasion we felt that the most efficient, cost-effective and pragmatic approach was to take both bins at once. The alternative would have created confusion and seen the legacy of these suspended services drag on for some weeks.

“The only downside to this approach is that the excellent work and diligence of our Wednesday, Thursday and Friday collection customers will, on this one occasion, be undone by their recycling being diverted to the Energy from Waste plant, where it will still work for environmental gain in creating a sustainable source of energy,” said Coun Wright.

Monday and Tuesday customers whose service was unaffected by last week’s need only present their recycling bins which will be handled in the normal way and all materials transferred for recycling as usual.

Garden waste customers whose bins were also missed on Wednesday to Friday of last week are asked to leave them out pending collection as a separate operation, but not necessarily on the usual day.

Additionally, any extra waste – both residual and recycling – will be taken alongside the bins if bagged neatly.

Coun Wright continued: “The decision to suspend our highly-regarded waste service was not made lightly but having continued to operate through the first two days of snow, it was the safe and responsible cause of action in light of multi-agency advice in response to a worsening weather situation and to minimise impact on the highways.

“We apologise to customers for any inconvenience caused, but thank them for their patience and understanding and hope that they appreciate the measures we are now taking to get back on track as quickly as we can. At all times our primary concern is the frontline services we deliver.”