1,200 High Wycombe flats to benefit from plastic and can recycling scheme

07 July 2010

Local people living in over 1,200 flats will now be able to recycle their plastic bottles, tins and cans closer to home, after communal recycling bins were recently installed at over 100 developments in and around High Wycombe.

The red recycling bins are located in or near the flats' bin store area and are sized according to the space available. In addition, over 40 per cent of the flats will also benefit from blue recycling bins for paper and cardboard. The bins will be emptied once a fortnight.

Councillor Clive Harriss, Wycombe District Council's Cabinet Member for Wellbeing and Neighbourhoods, commented: "We are really pleased that we can offer local residents more opportunities to recycle their waste, rather than sending it to landfill. We hope that these new flat recycling facilities will encourage some residents to recycle for the first time, as well as making it easier for those who already recycle.

"More than 95 per cent of the district now receives at least one form of kerbside recycling service. We've achieved this by continued expansion of the different recycling schemes, such as the communal red and blue bins, and through improvements and efficiencies made through the new waste and recycling collection contract."

Martin Tett, Cabinet Member for Planning and Environment at Buckinghamshire County Council said: "Landfilling waste is not only environmentally damaging but it is also subject to increasingly punitive fines and taxes which would have to be passed on to Council Tax payers. Rolling out recycling waste collection services to flats will help to reduce the amount of waste we send to landfill."

In April 2009, the first set of red recycling bins were introduced to flats in and around Marlow, Bourne End, Flackwell Heath, Wooburn Green, Loudwater and parts of High Wycombe.

For more information about recycling, please contact Wycombe District Council's waste and recycling team on 01494 421 415 or visit www.wycombe.gov.uk/waste