Recycling consultation announced

Residents will be able to complete an online survey until January 8, which the council says will help inform future decisions about these services.

The council currently recycles 40 per cent of all household waste, but this needs to increase to 50 per cent by the year 2020 to meet legal requirements.

A spokesman said: “In addition to thinking about how to increase recycling, questions will also be focused on making recycling easier for residents and more cost effective.

“To maximise the efficiency of recycling, some materials like paper and glass should be collected separately.  

“One proposal is to have containers, known as ‘caddies’, to sit inside a wheeled bin for recycling instead of the current green box system, enabling the separate collection of key materials.

“This would be in addition to the black bin, and residents will be able to voice their opinion on this proposal amongst other issues.”

Achieving the ten per cent increase would be difficult to achieve with the small green boxes currently used and the time-consuming nature of the current kerbside sorting method, the council said.

Cabinet member for Environment, Cllr Chris McGuiness, said: “We are seeking people's views on waste and recycling to guide our decision-making because we know how important these services are to everybody.

“We have done really well in Doncaster to get to a 40 per cent recycling rate, emphasising that local people understand the importance of environmental issues, but now we want to go even further and maximise the amount we recycle.

“We need to think carefully about how we can improve the service for everyone."

For more information on recycling and waste collections, and to complete the survey, visit: www.doncaster.gov.uk/binyourbox-pr.