'Half of all Chester's waste is being recycled'

THE amount of waste Chester area residents recycle has doubled under the new waste collection service.

Cheshire West and Chester Council (CWaC) is now collecting waste in blue, green and brown wheelie bins from eight out of 10 households in and around Chester.

In the other areas bags continue to be used. There have been many teething problems and a limited number of households have not yet had a single waste collection since the new system was introduced.

But overall council leaders are delighted with the way the introduction has gone and since its introduction last month, a staggering 55 per cent of all household waste collected has been sent for recycling or composting.

The amount of waste sent for disposal has also tumbled by more than a quarter, helping to reduce the council’s reliance on landfill, a significant contributor to climate change.

Chester was previously recycling only a third of its household waste, lagging behind the two other parts of the new CWaC territory, Ellesmere Port and Neston and Vale Royal, which were both recycling 40 per cent plus of its waste.

In a message of congratulation, council leader Mike Jones said: “Thank you so much to everyone who is supporting this new service.

“This has been a mammoth task and to achieved such a high level of recycling so far is a testament to the good will and community spirit of people in this area.”

Cllr Jones added: “Due to the exceptional performance of the new service additional pressure has been placed on the recycling collection operatives who are out from 7am to 8pm.

“For those households that have suffered problems with their collections, I apologise and offer my assurance that we are working with our collection partner Focsa to provide additional resources and overcome these issues as fast as we can.”

A new Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) has been installed at Bumpers Lane, off Sealand Road. specifically for the area’s new waste collection service.

The cutting-edge facility costing £900,000 operated by Fosca processes waste on behalf of the local authority.