Wokingham

Since glass recycling was introduced into the Wokingham district 16 years ago, bottle banks have now been placed in over 40 convenient locations, as a handy facility for residents to dispose of their waste glassware in an environmentally-friendly way. The facility is now set to sharpen up just in time for Christmas, with the delivery of new replacement bottle banks that enable glass items to be deposited according to colour, rather than being all mixed up.

Presently, over 200 tons of glass is collected every month from across 40 sites in the Wokingham district, but between 20 and 30 per cent more glass is collected over the festive season in many different forms, from wine and beer bottles to pickled walnut jars.

Wokingham Glass recycling is integral to the 25-year Waste Private Finance Initiative (PFI) between Wokingham District Council, Bracknell Forest Borough Council, Reading Borough Council and contractor Waste & Recycling Group (WRG), all known as the RE3 Waste Partnership. RE3 aims to deliver long-term sustainable solutions to waste collection and recycling across the three council areas. The replacement bottle banks are part of this new contract.

Peter Baveystock, waste and recycling manager at Wokingham District Council, said: “We’re happy to be reverting to a colour separate system again which will mean that the glass deposited can be turned into new glass bottles and jars more easily. It’s also great that we’re starting with a completely new set of bottle banks throughout the Wokingham district at a time of year when glass usage is so high and I’m sure the residents will soon get back into the practice of separating their green, clear and brown glass when they put them in the bottle banks.”

WRG, the company appointed to deliver the waste strategy for RE3, brought the first of the new bottle banks to the Toutley depot in Old Forest Road Friday December 1. Over a period of three weeks, all 40 locations will take delivery of the new bottle banks and there are plans for more where appropriate.

Tom Coleman, contract operations manager with contractor WRG, said: “With the 25 year contract starting on December 4 it’s important that we get the service to the customer right and this is why this initiative is so important.”

Cllr Simon Weeks, Wokingham executive member for the environment, said: “The new arrangement with WRG is working well at a practical level. We wanted the RE3 initiative to be genuinely useful and convenient for the growing number of residents in the Wokingham district who want to recycle their waste. This is an important part of a project that should bring a measurable and sustainable reduction in landfill usage, which is good news for the environment and our residents.”

Wokingham District Council