Overwhelming response to green scheme

Extra crews are being drafted in to East Durham following an overwhelming response to a new recycling scheme.

District of Easington Council and its contractor Greencycle have had to bring in extra vehicles and staff to collect residents’ recyclable waste after the service, which collects plastic and cardboard as well as paper, glass and cans, was introduced.

During the first few days of the scheme the daily average of household recyclable waste collected doubled, causing delays in completing some rounds.

Oliver Sherratt, District of Easington Council’s Director of Community Services, said: ”There has been a fantastic response to this new recycling scheme, with participation rates at 80 to 90 per cent in many areas.

"However, this has meant that it is taking a lot more time for the crews to get around, and as a consequence some residents have not had a collection on their assigned day. We are sorry for any inconvenience this has caused, and would ask those residents effected to put it out for collection the next day."

"We are working with Greencycle to ensure that over the next few weeks there is enough collection vehicles and crew to meet this very high demand, and urge residents to keep recycling at these tremendous levels and bear with us while we resolve these teething problems."

In Seaham on Tuesday high winds caused problems with waste left out for collection being blown onto streets. This is now being cleaned up, but residents are reminded that their recycling bags and boxes should not be left out on the street overnight.