Targeted awareness work to help improve recycling in Great Yarmouth

Contamination remains an issue across the county, with people putting the wrong waste items into their recycling bins. The main waste items incorrectly put into green bins are nappies, clothing, food waste, paper towels, tissues and other general household waste.      

To support the current Norfolk-wide anti-contamination campaigns, coordinated by the Norfolk Waste Partnership, the borough council is now undertaking targeted checks of green bins during the fortnightly collection rounds.

If a green bin is found to contain contamination, a sticker is put on the bin explaining what is wrong. If a bin is found to be significantly contaminated, it is not collected as part of the recycling round, an explanatory sticker is left, and officers visit the household to explain the reason and understand if the resident needs any extra support with recycling.     

Cllr Carl Smith, chairman of the environment committee, said: "Getting recycling right is everyone's responsibility, it's a public issue, and is important to reduce our collective impact on the environment. Some people are great at it and deserve praise but there are others who still don't separate their waste correctly - either accidently or on purpose.

"About a fifth of all waste put into green recycling bins is not recyclable. In the case of nappies, these make otherwise clean recycling dirty and potentially unusable, and can cause a potential health hazard for those people who have to remove them by hand.

"We're supporting the Norfolk-wide anti-contamination campaigns through our targeted awareness work, which will eventually cover the whole borough, focussing on areas where contamination levels are higher than expected.

"We are taking a friendly approach, based around personal explanatory visits, because we want people to feel supported to recycle more of the right things. Generally people have been accepting when our officers have visited to explain why their bin has been left." 

Cllr John Fisher, chairman of the Norfolk Waste Partnership, said: "Last year, we launched a campaign to raise awareness of the 'three simple rules' for recycling: 'Clean, Dry and Don't Bag it'.

"As part of this, we sent a leaflet to every home to remind residents of what can and can't be put into recycling bins. This information is also on our website and those of the councils. Recently, we've launched a complimentary campaign to reduce the number of nappies wrongly put in recycling bins.

"This positive awareness work by Great Yarmouth Borough Council will support both of these campaigns and help even more residents to Recycle for Norfolk."

More information about what can and cannot be recycled in Norfolk can be found at Norfolk Recycles (opens new window) or via Twitter and Facebook: @Recycle4Norfolk