Huge increase in recycled glass thanks to successful District Council initiative in Newark and Sherwood.

Since the implementation of the scheme, residents in Newark and Sherwood have increased the amount of glass recycled by 62.8%.  The amount of glass being collected over each 8-week cycle has been increasing and the District Council collected 100 tonnes more in the last collection than the first one!

Councillor Emma Oldham, Portfolio Holder for Climate and the Environment said, “I am delighted that so much glass is now being diverted from incineration and being recycled and I want to thank every single person who recycles their glass either through our service, the Recycling Ollerton and Boughton’s service or via our bottle banks. Glass is an infinitely recyclable material, and it was so important that we facilitate the kerbside service across the district to ensure we are doing all we can to promote simple and convenient recycling.  This will ultimately be a key part in helping us achieve our carbon net zero target 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. 

Councillor Oldham continues, “We’ve been able to create more local jobs because of introducing the scheme and the sale of the glass has helped fund these new posts too, which is fantastic.

“Our crews start glass collections later than other waste teams to delay the time that the first bin is emptied to reduce any noise impact.  We have been regularly adding more properties and flat complexes over the past 6 months, and it still isn’t too late to opt into the scheme if you initially opted out.  It’s completely free, you’ll be delivered a new glass bin for free and you won’t pay for the service either!  As well as increasing the amount of glass recycled, our contamination rates have reduced in our recycling bins, meaning that more other materials are now able to be recycled and then, on top of that, the glass that is being collected is also the right type of glass too!  We are really making a huge difference as a district, and I’m enormously proud of that!”

Historically, glass found its way into recycling bins, and this typically accounted for 8.2% of the contamination found in silver bins per month.  This has now halved since the introduction of the new teal lidded glass recycling bin!  There has also been no contamination issues with the glass collections either, in fact feedback from the District Council’s glass contractor said that the quality of glass is excellent.

Councillor Emma Oldham concludes, “This incredible effort is solely because of the hard work of our residents and their incredible attitude to supporting our glass scheme.  Because of them we have improved our recycling rates, decreased our contamination rates and are getting closer to our carbon net zero target.”

The District Council is still committed to supporting Recycling Ollerton and Boughton (ROB).  To help support any increase in requests for their glass service, the District Council funded the purchase of an additional 1,000 boxes and, for the first half of this year, there has already been an increase of 11% in the glass tonnage collected from ROB which is great news!

The District Council launched its glass recycling service for trade customers in June 2024 with currently 28 businesses already signed up.  If you are a homeowner or a business and you wish to opt into our kerbside glass recycling scheme, please call us on 01636 650 000 or email us at customerservices@newark-sherwooddc.gov.uk.  If you live in the areas surrounding Ollerton and Boughton, serviced by ROB, you can also choose to use their service, with information available on their website at www.recyclingollerton.co.uk

The decision to implement a kerbside glass recycling service followed a public survey 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 in the glass recycling bins. 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 items do not melt at the same temperature as the glass that you can recycle.

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.

To find out more about the District Council’s kerbside glass scheme, visit www.newark-sherwooddc.gov.uk/kerbsideglass