New recycling bags to be introduced in Cannock Chase

Currently district residents have three bins – a blue one for rubbish that can be recycled, a brown one for organic garden waste and a green one for all other items that cannot be composted or recycled.

From April 2022 a bag will join the bins as Cannock Chase Council, along with authorities serving Tamworth, Lichfield, South Staffordshire and East Staffordshire, move to a “dual stream” recycling system.

The move will involve residents separating cardboard and paper waste into their new bag, keeping them separate from other recyclable materials such as glass, tins and plastic bottles.

The recycled material market has become more focused on quality in recent years, a question and answer page on Cannock Chase Council’s website explained. As a result greater value can be achieved from separating out paper and card from other materials as contamination is reduced.

On Tuesday members of Cannock Chase Council’s Health and Wellbeing Scrutiny Committee had the opportunity to view collection bags similar to those being distributed to households across the district next year.

Joss Presland, head of environment and healthy lifestyles at Cannock Chase Council, said the bags would have an 80 litre capacity and be weighted at the bottom so they would stay upright when empty.

He added: “This is the way the industry is going across the country. Most local authorities are looking at this now as the way forward.

“When everything goes in the bin and the refuse vehicle all the glass gets smashed into the paper so it becomes like sandpaper. When it goes to the paper mills they don’t want it.

“Places like Stafford Borough have seen a real reduction in their contamination.

“So far feedback hasn’t been too bad on social media. There have been some queries about it and other comments saying it has worked really well in Stafford Borough.”

Councillor Josh Newbury said concerns had been raised about how larger families would cope with the bin space available to them.

The meeting heard that larger bins were available for households who needed them and additional bags for paper and cardboard could be requested.

The bag could also be stored within the blue bin if residents had limited space for an extra waste receptacle at home.

Stafford Borough Council introduced bags for paper and cardboard waste in 2020. It has also brought in an annual £36 charge for collection of garden waste.

But there are currently no plans to start charging for garden waste collections in Cannock Chase according to the council’s website.