Cherwell residents praised following record breaking recycling effort over holiday period

During the two weeks covering Christmas and New Year, a 30 per cent spike saw dry recycling collected by Cherwell District Council weigh in at 613 tonnes. That is 141 tonnes more than the same period the previous year.

Cllr Dan Sames, lead member for clean and green, said: “With most of us spending this Christmas at home, there was a considerable increase in the amount of cardboard, paper and plastic we all disposed of in our blue bins.

"Given the increase in internet shopping this is hardly surprising. Fortunately, this increase was not matched by an increase in residual waste that we put in our green bins. This shows that all of us as residents are doing our best to recycle our waste.”

Compared to the same two-week period in 2019 to 2020, green bin weights increased by seven per cent, from 1208 to 1297 tonnes.

Both January 8 and 9 were particularly heavy days for Cherwell crews; they collected over 90 tonnes of recycling on each day. This was approaching double the weights (up to 55 tonnes) they empty from the blue bins on a typical day.

The Christmas clear-up is concluding this week with the collection of real trees along with the brown bins in Bicester, Kidlington, and the surrounding villages.

In the coming weeks, the council is encouraging people to recycle any electronics that have lost their spark by placing them in a carrier bag on top of any of their bins, on their normal collection day. Any device that fits into a standard-sized carrier bag, for instance a toaster or microwave, will be accepted.

Cllr Sames added: “We’ve made a great start to recycling in 2021, and we’re now encouraging everyone to keep up the good work for the rest of the year. We should also thank all or refuse collection crews and street cleaners for their continued efforts in these trying times.”

Anyone unsure about which bin to put an item in can look it up at www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/wastewizard