[C]OPELAND Council has listened to the views of its residents, and is to offer free lids for its new recycling boxes.
The scheme, which collects five separate materials at the kerbside, starts on April 16 and covers 96 per cent of households.
Mayor Mike Starkie said: “We originally planned to charge for the lids but residents have told us they will find it easier to manage their recycling at home by having lids and that they should be free – and we have listened. Every resident on a recycling who wants a lid or cover will be able to collect three free.
“We really want this scheme to work and to radically increase our recycling figures. The response to the new scheme as a whole has been incredibly positive so we want to make it as easy as possible to recycle. People seem ready to get on board with this and I can’t wait to see it get underway.”
The lids and covers – a maximum of three per household – will be available at three market ‘roadshows’ will be staffed by Copeland officers who will be able to answer questions about the new collections:
- Whitehaven Market on Thursday, March 29
- Easter Fair at Millom Pensioners Hall on Wednesday, April 4 from noon to 3pm
- Cleator Moor Market on Friday, April 6, 9am until 11am
- Egremont Market on Friday April, 6, 12 noon until 2pm
Following the roadshows, the lids and covers will also be available at:
- Copeland Council’s Market Hall office in Whitehaven (during normal opening hours)
- Copeland Council’s Millom office in St George’s Road (during normal opening hours)
Egremont Town Council offices from 9am until 1pm on weekdays (please use the bell at the side entrance)
The massive task of delivering the 130,000 bags and boxes is well under way, with almost a third already delivered. The weighted bags for card were held up by snowy conditions, but they are now also being delivered. The council posts each morning on its social media channels to say where the boxes and bags will be delivered that day.
Each household will receive three plastic boxes, roughly the same size and shape as their existing black box. There will be a blue one for paper, a green one for glass, and a black one for plastic and metal. Residents may keep their existing boxes to use as storage or for when they have extra recycling to put out. Residents can put out as much recycling as they wish as long as it is clean, sorted and put out in a reasonably secure container, so that it cannot blow away easily.
Residents are also asked to only use the lids for storage. When left out for collection, the lids should be removed and the boxes can be stacked with the heaviest glass (green) box one top which will ensure no items blow away.
There is detailed information, including exactly what can and can not be put into each container, at www.copeland.gov.uk, accessible from the homepage.
Printed calendars, accompanied by a useful guide to the new scheme, have started to arrive through letterboxes. People can also access their calendar by visiting www.copeland.gov.uk and clicking on My Property, then My Bin Collections. They will need to input their postcode and their house name/number to see their calendar.
