Ten per cent of recyclable materials collected at the kerbside in the city of Lincoln are contaminated and have to be sent to landfill, the city council has revealed.

According to Defra, in 2011-12 Lincoln City Council collected 36,997 tonnes of household waste and recycled, composted or reused 16,471 of it (44.5 per cent). However, the city council has decided to launch an ‘information campaign’ in order to better educate its constituents on what can and cant be included in brown recycling bins in order to further boost rates and reduce the amount of contaminated materials to below five per cent.

Three items the council is specifically looking to discourage residents from placing in their recycling bin are: textiles, black bin bags and dirty food containers.

Textiles

Previously, residents could place these in the kerbside boxes. However, they must now be taken to charity shops or collection banks.

Black bin bags

These cannot be recycled by the council so are rejected, meaning any recyclable material within the bags is also rejected. Residents are advised to place surplus recyclables in cardboard boxes next to their brown bins or in non-black bags clearly marked ‘recycling’;

Dirty food containers

Food waste can contaminate recyclable material that comes into contact with it, meaning it must be rejected. The council asks residents to ensure that they rinse out their food containers to reduce this problem.

As part of the campaign, the council will soon begin attaching stickers to collection boxes detailing what can and cannot be accepted. These will be placed on boxes during collection rounds ‘over the next few weeks’.

Additionally, the council will begin attaching ruler-sized tags to bin handles if contaminated waste is found, explaining why the bin has not been emptied and reminding residents which materials can be deposited in the bin.

It is hoped the campaign will reduce contamination levels to below five per cent.

Contamination is ‘increasing costs’

Commenting on the problem, Caroline Pritchard, Community Services Manager at the City of Lincoln Council, said: “I would like to stress the positive and say that Lincoln’s residents have been excellent recyclers for the most part so we thank them for that.

“We want to make sure that people know what can go in the bins so we can recycle as much as possible and keep up that good record.”

Caroline Pritchard added: “Contamination is the big problem. In recent months this has gone up quite a bit - usually because people don’t understand what goes in the bin but, in a small minority of cases, because people don’t care.

“We then pass the waste on to the County Council who are telling us the contamination level is high which risks increasing costs.”

Viridor is currently contracted to sort Lincoln County Council’s recycling collections. If any material is contaminated, however, Viridor sends it to landfill, incurring extra cost for the council.

The company was awarded a three-year waste contract with the council in 2010, with the option of a two-year extension being available upon at contract’s expiration at the end of March 2013. The council has told Resource that it has decided to extend the contract.

Lincoln City Council currently collects co-mingled recycling on an alternate-weekly basis.