£26k bin buddy operation hailed a triumph
A £26,000 scheme to teach people how to recycle their rubbish has been hailed a success.
Bin buddies have been roaming the streets of Whitmore Reans in Wolverhampton since last month to tell residents about the dos and don'ts of bin etiquette.
The government-funded initiative is targeting 16 streets in the area because it has the worst recycling rate in the city. Bosses at Wolverhampton City Council said the initiative, which has seen people told what items they should be recycling, had received the thumbs up from residents.
If bins are found to contain the wrong items they go uncollected.
Councillor John Reynolds, said: "It is very early days as there has only been one collection since the bin buddies started operating, but we have received some very good comments from people. A lot of residents didn't realise they were putting things in the wrong bins and were understandably disappointed when their rubbish wasn't collected.
"I think having someone there to show them what they are doing wrong is something people have appreciated." Council figures for January, before the bin buddies started work, show 4,035 bins across the city were left uncollected because they contained the wrong sort of rubbish. Almost a quarter of them were in Whitmore Reans.
Councillor Reynolds said around one per cent of bins were not collected in Wolverhampton in December and January – the lowest figures recorded in several years.
