Record numbers recycle in Wigan

Cars queue to use the Kirkless recycling centre

Full statistics for the turn of the year have yet to be released, but council chiefs says it looks like contractors dealt with record amounts of cardboard boxes, wrapping paper, bottles and Christmas trees.

Sites were said to be particularly busy between Christmas and new year and, indeed, visitors to the borough’s three recycling sites did at times have to cope with long queues.

This led to some taking to social media to complain that there ought to be more sites like this if the authority wants residents to recycle more and point out that several sites – including Frog Lane and Orrell – have in fact been closed in the last decade.

But the council is pleased with the amounts being processed, which appear to be in line with what went for recyling at the turn of 2017/18.

Then more than 121 tonnes of card was taken to the three tips, nearly 10 tonnes of paper, 61 tonnes of food and garden waste from the green bin and 8.5 tonnes of glass.

Paul Barton, the director for environment at Wigan council, said: “We would like to say thank you to everyone who took the time to make sure they recycled more, recycled right over the festive period.

“By doing your bit to support The Deal it helps us to keep our council tax low and it is good for our environment.

“Working with FCC Environment, who manage our household waste recycling centres, we put in additional measures to make it easier for residents to recycle such as extending our opening times added traffic management and additional staff on site to help with unloading.

“With the high volume of visitors over the festive period we have taken record volumes of things like cardboard boxes, wrapping paper, bottles and real Christmas trees all which will be fully recycled avoiding the need for expensive landfill costs.”

A total of 620 tonnes of waste termed “residual” – or non-recyclable – was also taken to the three centres. A far higher tonnage of waste sent to tips is non-recyclable than the amounts put in domestic bins because so many heavy non-recyclable items, from mattresses to washing machines to old televisions, end up there.