Recycling Blog

So the great day is near and the brown bins are almost with us. A massive amount of work has been done by Sarah and Claire in the Communications Team and Carole, our Waste Services Manager. They have spent months planning and thinking about the scheme and trying to anticipate any problems. I think they have done a tremendous job for recycling in Pe­ndle.

I remember fighting a hard fight against the threat of a landfill site being established in Pendle many years ago. Can you imagine it? Happily it was a fight we won and that's one of the many reasons I'm passionate about recycling. 

We all love Pendle because it's a green and pleasant place, with lots of open spaces and beautiful countryside. Recycling plays a part in keeping it that way. By recycling we are helping to protect the environment including dumping less of our waste in landfill sites.

We know that most Pendle people are passionate about recycling too. That's why we're pretty confident in setting a target of recycling well over half our waste (56%) by 2015. We're currently recycling 36% of our waste, which is well above the rate we were recycling back in 2004 which was 11%. So we are well on the way. But to help us all meet this much higher target we're introducing the new brown wheelie bin.

Many people have told us that they often didn't have enough capacity in their green boxes. Some even admitted that when their green box was full they simply whizzed the rest of their recycling in the bin!

To help us recycle more, the new brown bin has a lot more capacity. It's easier because you don't have to sort out your cans from your plastic bottles - they can all go into the brown bin along with your glass bottles and jars.

You only have to wheel your new brown bin out when it's full - so that can save you time too.

A lot of local people who live in terraced houses told me they were fed up with carrying their leaking green box through the house to the front for collection. Now people who live in terraced houses - and that's thousands of people - can put their recycling out at the back too, which is where they put their general waste.

Quite a lot of residents have said they are worried they won't have space for the new bin. We can help. If you call us on 01282 661743 before 28 August, you can opt to have a smaller bin before we start delivering the new brown bins. If it's after that date, give the new bin a try and if it's too big, we'll be happy to swap it later or discuss other options with you.

By now you should have got our advice leaflet through the post which explains everything. But you're welcome to come along to our final roadshow at Brierfield Community Centre on Saturday 22 August 9am - 11am to find out more and get any help you need.

Or simply phone our helpline 01282 661743. You can also look on this website www.pendle.gov.uk/recycling which has lots of useful information and even some videos which show you exactly what goes where when it comes to recycling.

Thanks for your help in recycling more for Pendle - together we can do it!