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Reigate & Banstead Borough Council adapts to the government’s new Simpler Recycling legislation
13 December 2024
In readiness for new legislation for domestic and commercial waste collection, Reigate & Banstead Borough Council’s Executive has agreed changes to the borough’s domestic and commercial waste and recycling services.
The Simpler Recycling legislation in the UK aims to make recycling easier and more consistent for everyone by March 2026. It is a significant step towards meeting the government’s 25 Year Environment Plan commitment to eliminate avoidable waste by 2050. It will also contribute to meeting the government recycling ambition of 65% of municipal (household-like) waste to be recycled by 2035.
Household recycling service
Reigate & Banstead Borough Council’s household recycling collection service already fits the Simpler Recycling model. Currently 9 out of 10 of the borough’s homes can dispose of all four waste streams (food waste, paper and card, dry mixed recyclables, and non-recyclables) using kerbside collections.
Since 2018, the Council has been working successfully to extend the full service beyond the 48,000 (or 80% of) properties it was originally made available to. However, there remain 5,500 properties (mainly flats) where it is more difficult for the Council's recycling vehicles to have access or where there are limited bin storage facilities. Additional funding agreed by the Council’s Executive, along with a grant from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), will speed up this process so we can fully comply with the legislation.
As progress is made to roll out collections for the four waste streams to all households in the borough, there’s less need for the Council’s local recycling sites. There are now 22 recycling sites in the borough and they attract large volumes of non-recyclable rubbish - commercial and trade waste as well as household rubbish - much of which is fly-tipped. This is unsightly and makes it difficult to recycle waste that has been disposed of correctly.
Cllr Hannah Avery, Executive Member for Neighbourhood Services, says: “We’re confident that, with this additional funding, we can meet our Simpler Recycling requirements in good time and provide all our residents with a full recycling service from home by March 2026.
“I’d like to reassure residents that the closure of the borough’s recycling sites will be complemented by the expansion of the full recycling service to homes across the borough. Our experience from the recent closure of the recycling site at Tattenham Corner (which had been one of our worst fly tipping spots) after the expansion of home recycling opportunities in the area, shows the site closure didn’t lead to an increase in fly tipping locally.”
Commercial recycling service
The Simpler Recycling legislation will have a greater impact on the Council’s existing trade waste service, which currently collects non-recyclable waste, paper and card from around 650 businesses across the borough.
Cllr Hannah Avery continues: “We’ve taken the difficult decision to gradually withdraw our trade waste service to business customers. The significant investment required to scale up the service to comply with new legislation would not offer taxpayers value for money. We will be working with our existing customers to find an alternative provider.”
The Council’s trade waste service will be gradually withdrawn over the next few years.
The collection service provided to schools and colleges, which do not incur additional commercial waste disposal fees, will continue and will be moved to our existing domestic rounds.
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