The Isle of Wight council have issued this pres statement, after concerns were raised by residents about paper and cardboard recyclables being mixed with other recyclables. Ed
Following reports of refuse collections being incorrectly mixed, Isle of Wight Council would like to point out the following.
This year the Isle of Wight Council, in partnership with Amey, introduced a fleet of seven new recycling collection vehicles which feature split rear compartments to separately collect paper/card from other mixed recycling.
These vehicles service on average 8,500 properties a day across the Island separately collecting paper/card from the glass/metal/plastic mix.
Smaller truck for narrower roads
Unfortunately, not all roads on the Island have sufficient width for the full sized 26 tonne recycling collection vehicles to go down. The Isle of Wight Council has always operated a smaller 12 tonne collection vehicle to access the narrower rural and urban roads.
The 12 tonne vehicle cannot however be constructed with the same number of compartments as the larger vehicles.
Although the paper/card and glass/metal/plastic get re-mixed in this vehicle, the separation at home still provides a higher quality recyclable material. This is separated again at the material recovery facility for onward reprocessing into new products.
The food waste and any textiles set out on the rural round are kept entirely separate.
Return of bins to the kerb
Amey and the Isle of Wight Council were concerned to see footage showing a member of the crew throwing receptacles back to the kerb.
This is not an acceptable practice and the crew will be reminded of the correct way to return containers to the kerbside.
Feedback welcomed
The Isle of Wight council always appreciates feedback on our services in order to provide the best value for money services for our residents.
The Isle of Wight Council and Amey are continuing to work together to review the resources for these narrow roads to see if there are ways they can be improved.
Image: © Recyling Waste World
