New bin scheme is ‘a success’ - despite teething troubles

Last week, households across the district switched to the new system, which Rother says will enable residents to recycle more.

Cllr Tony Ganly, RDC cabinet member for waste and recycling, said: “Switching over to the new system has been a huge undertaking but extensive preparation and careful planning by the council and our contractor ensured disruption was kept to a minimum.

“While there were some teething troubles as crews got used to the new collection rounds, staff worked hard throughout the week and part of the weekend to make a success of the new scheme and as of Monday (July 7) there were just 100 outstanding bin collections out of 44,000 bins across the district. Our contractor Kier has put additional vehicles and crews in to support the changes and to deal with outstanding collections.

“We’d like to say sorry to anyone who did experience disruption and we’d ask people to bear with us as we continue to implement what will be an improved service for everyone.”

To smooth the transition to the new service and to avoid long gaps between rubbish collections, some residents will receive more than one rubbish collection in a row. But there may be some longer periods between recycling collections.

Green wheeled bins are now used for recycling, including cardboard, and garden waste is collected in the new brown bins. Recycling boxes should now be used for glass bottles and jars while residents who receive weekly collections can continue to put out recycled waste in their pink, red or blue sacks.

Bins should be put out by 7am on the day of collection, while any missed collections should be reported by 5pm the following day.