Newcastle-under-Lyme recently launched the UK’s most complicated kerbside collection service, requiring residents to separate waste into eight distinct containers. But why have they taken such a drastic step? And how will residents cope? Resource investigates

It is with a mixed sense of admiration and disbelief that many of us greet the description of Kamikatsu’s waste collection system: admiration because residents of this small village in Japan are clearly serious about zero waste; and disbelief because it seems impossible that they are willing (and have the time and patience) to compost their food waste and separate the remaining household waste into no less than 34 different categories at their local recycling centre. Surely such a scheme would never work in the UK (and no local authority would dare implement it…).

While Newcastle-under-Lyme’s new recycling service falls 26 containers short of Kamikatsu’s, the authority recently took a bold step in the zero waste model’s direction by asking residents to sort their recyclables into eight separate containers for kerbside collection. As of March this year, residents in the borough’s 54,000 homes must sort plastic, paper, cardboard, metals and glass, textiles, garden waste, and food waste into seven distinct receptacles, with a further bin for residual waste, making this recycling scheme the most complicated in the UK.

Trevor Nicoll, Head of Waste Strategy at Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council, explains the new system: “It’s an alternate weekly collection service. On one week, our ‘green’ week, we collect food waste from a small 25-litre green bin, garden waste from a 240-litre brown wheeled bin and residual waste from a 180-litre black wheeled bin. We use three different collection vehicles on this week. And on our ‘blue’ week, which is for dry recycling and food waste, we use two vehicles. We collect the food waste again, in the green caddy, as well as cardboard in a green reusable bag, plastic bottles in a red one-use sack, paper and magazines in a reusable blue bag. Then we have mixed glass, tins and foil in a blue box and textiles in a white and red sack.”

In total, the council uses five different types of collection vehicles for the nine different types of material, another number that might raise an eyebrow or two, but, according to Nicoll: “By using different types of vehicles that fitted the types of materials we were collecting, that saved us having to make extra tips either to the transfer station or the incinerator. Food, green, and residual waste all go to different locations [an anaerobic digester in the case of food waste], so that’s why on one week, there’s three different vehicles. Also, we’re using the right sized vehicles for the materials – food waste is dense, heavy material, so we actually only need 6.5-tonne vehicles that run a lot more efficiently than a 26-tonne refuse collection vehicle.”

The council has provided residents with kerbside collections for seven years now, although households previously only had to contend with two bins – general rubbish and garden waste – and two bags and a box for dry recyclables. The introduction of the new eight-container scheme raises a number of issues, not least the amount of space that the system takes up. While eight containers can be easily accommodated in a semi-detached property with a large garden, one would think residents in terraced houses or gardenless flats might have trouble.

However, Nicoll explains that the issue of space was, in fact, one of the main reasons this particular system was chosen. “This system will take up less space than having a wheelie bin that’s always there, because when we’ve collected, some of the bags disappear and others can be stacked into the blue box until they’re needed again.” He adds that this system can be adjusted to fit in with the needs of various households: “We wanted to design a system which could be scaleable, to fit in better with those residents in terraced properties, but one that also works well for those families with six or seven members. In this way, our system works because larger families can have additional boxes and bags if they need them.”

The success of such a complex scheme is, of course, dependent on the willingness of residents to take part. And, somewhat surprisingly to some outside observers, the citizens of Newcastle seem largely willing to do their bit. In fact, since the inception of the new scheme, recycling rates have jumped from 26 per cent to over 55 per cent. Phil Corrigan, chief reporter for local newspaper The Sentinel has been speaking to the residents about the new scheme and confirms: “For the most part, people are perfectly content with the new system and happy to recycle. They appreciate the reasons behind changing the system and understand that if the council doesn’t meet its recycling targets, it could be fined and their council tax will increase as a result.”