The towns and villages in South Holland that will take part in the year-long recycling scheme trial have been announced.
Parts of Pinchbeck, Donington and Spalding will switch recycling to a two-week cycle, with paper and cardboard being collected one week and mixed recycling the next.
The reports pack for the meeting of the South Holland District Council Cabinet details the regions, which it states “have been chosen to provide a selection of rural and town collections in order to assess impacts across a range of residents”. 4,500 households will be part of the scheme, which is a partnership of the Waste Collection (district council) and Waste Disposal (county council) Authorities.
One reason for the trial the report says is due to paper and card currently becoming “contaminated” in mixed recycling with food waste in, which makes it “no longer suitable for recycling”.
Under the trial scheme, it is hoped “paper and card that remains of a good quality have a value and can therefore generate a saving for our tax payers”.
The report states that the proposed paper mill is “unable to receive the material in plastic sacks”.
The council plans to purchase and distribute the sacks as planned, and then pay agency staff to split the bags by hand prior to delivery to the mill.
The report said the cost of the scheme should be £4,000 for blue sacks, £2,500 for delivery and £400 per fortnight to split the sacks.
SHDC says in the report that it is proposed the trial is funded by Lincolnshire County Council and will “see no impact to SHDC other than officer time on the project team”.
The main risk identified in the report is possible poor uptake and engagement from residents in the trial area.
The council hopes to avoid this by putting together an “engagement strategy” to run alongside the project and begin ahead of the September start.
