Important update on District Council’s Kerbside Glass Recycling Service

Today, Councillor Paul Peacock, Leader of Newark and Sherwood District Council is providing residents with an update on this service. 

Councillor Peacock explains: “I’m delighted that from today, residents will start to get their kerbside glass recycling bins delivered. Last week all the new bins arrived at our depot on Brunel Drive in Newark and we are starting the mammoth task today of getting them out to our households.

“We aim to have delivered all the new bins by the end of April 2024. Collections will be every eight weeks and will start from Monday 8 April 2024. You can find your bin collection date via our online calendar available from the homepage of our website. The great news is, as soon as you have your bin, you can start to use it!

“The introduction of any new service takes some time to set up and get right and we’ve been busy in the background getting everything ready for this new service. Our team of officers have been applying for permits and licenses, building our glass storage facility, ordering bins and new vehicles, recruiting and training staff, organising collection rounds and much more.

“It’s great that we have been able to create several new jobs for local people to collect your glass and I know they are keen to start delivering the bins around the district. So please do give them a wave when you see them! It’s one of the highlights of my grandson’s week, waving at our local collection crews who know now to seek him out every week!”

The decision to implement a kerbside glass recycling service followed a public survey last year which saw almost 93% of 6,315 respondents wanting to see it introduced. You can put, food jars, glass drink bottles, toiletry jars (that may have contained things such as face creams or aftershave), perfume bottles and reed diffuser bottles. Items must be empty and clean with lids removed where possible, however labels can stay on.

Some common things that you can’t put into your glass recycling bin and should go into your green waste bin include oven-proof glass such as Pyrex, mirrors, drinking glasses, vases, nail varnish bottles, panes of window or greenhouse glass, microwave plates, spectacles and light bulbs and tubes. This is because these do not melt at the same temperature as the glass that you can recycle.

Councillor Keith Melton, Portfolio Holder for Climate Change said:“We want to make recycling as simple and easy as possible, and our kerbside glass service will do just that. We all must do our bit in tackling the Climate Emergency that is upon us and recycling is one simple way we can do that. One of the biggest obstacles in our fight against climate change is convenience. We live in a hectic modern-day world and I am confident that this new scheme will eliminate this issue for many of us and help the District Council recycle more than we ever have done. We want to recycle more and reduce the amount of glass that is sent to an ERF (Energy Recovery Facility), where glass is incinerated for energy recovery, because it is inefficient to do that. Glass is an infinitely recyclable material so it’s important that we offer the service to facilitate that.”

In 2023, Newark and Sherwood hit its highest ever recycling rate meaning that more materials than ever were sent to be recycled as opposed to being put into general waste for incineration. The introduction of the kerbside glass recycling service will allow this figure to increase even more.

Councillor Melton continues: “It is estimated that recycling has the potential to reduce carbon emissions by the equivalent of 10.4 – 11.2Gt of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) emissions between 2020 – 2050, which would be equivalent to the amount of carbon dioxide Japan emits in a year! It’s a big statement, but together, we can all take small steps and make this happen. I am confident our kerbside glass recycling scheme is just one step of many that we are taking as a District Council to help achieve our carbon net zero in Newark and Sherwood by 2035.”

Carbon net zero means that any carbon emissions created are balanced out by taking the same amount out of the atmosphere. Net zero will be reached once the amount of carbon emissions added is no more than the amount removed. 

The District Council is committed to doing all it can to achieving its net zero goal including decarbonising its buildings by adding solar PV panels, planting thousands of trees, deploying electric vehicles in its fleet and much more.

Councillor Peacock concludes: “Increasing our recycling rate is incredibly important and just one way we tackling the Climate Emergency. Our role as a District Council is to ensure we provide you with the tools that everyone needs to do their bit to recycle more and waste less. This service is imperative to that, and I look forward to seeing what other new measures we can work on over the next few years.”

The introduction of the District Council’s service means that across the district, residents will be able to recycle their glass bottles and jars from their kerbsides using a smaller 140 litre silver wheelie bin which will have a teal green lid. Once collected, they will be sent off to be recycled and transformed into new glass items. This avoids them going for incineration and will increase the district’s recycling rate. The service will be free, with the new bins and collections every eight weeks.

Last year all households were able to opt in or out of receiving our new kerbside glass recycling bin. If you live in the majority of Newark and Sherwood, you were automatically opted into the scheme with the option of opting out if you wished to. Those residents who live in the area served by Recycling Ollerton and Boughton, had to opt into our scheme. These areas are Ollerton, Boughton, Walesby, Kirton, Edwinstowe, Eakring, Laxton, Egmanton, Bilsthorpe, Wellow and Rufford. If you wish to find out more about Recycling Ollerton and Boughton, please visit their website at www.recyclingollerton.co.uk.

Further information about the District Council service is available on its website at: www.newark-sherwooddc.gov.uk/kerbsideglass.