From November, South Oxfordshire and Vale of White Horse District Councils will only empty green wheelie bins if the recycling in them is loose or in clear sacks.
Despite a recent campaign to raise awareness of the issue, some people are still putting in things like food waste and dirty nappies, contaminating whole truckloads of recycling – when these things are put into recycling bins in black or coloured sacks they’re not spotted until it’s too late.
If there’s a sack in a recycling bin and the waste crews can’t see what’s in it, they’ll have to assume it contains contamination and won’t empty it.
Councillor Tony Harbour, cabinet member for waste at South Oxfordshire District Council, said: “Contaminated recycling has become a real issue that we have to tackle. Insisting on loose recycling or clear sacks is a simple change that will make a big difference – and most people won’t be affected. If you do want to use bin-bags in your green bin, you can use clear ones, which are available from most large supermarkets and hardware stores. In most cases, clear sacks work out cheaper than black ones.”
Councillor Charlotte Dickson, cabinet member for waste at Vale of White Horse District Council, said: “Throughout October we’ll leave a note on any bins with the wrong colour sack in it to explain the problem – we’ll empty the bin on that occasion, but from November we’ll then have to start leaving them unemptied to help us protect everybody else’s recycling from getting contaminated.”
Take a look at this video that shows how bad the problem is when people use black or coloured sacks – https://youtu.be/ycwHKZ3-3vY