News

People in Dover will benefit from a major expansion of the recycling service from the District Council. It will mean an expansion of existing collections to include cardboard and plastic bottles and 13,000 more homes having a fortnightly green waste collection.

Household refuse collections will remain on a weekly basis and recycling collections will remain fortnightly.

The expansion means that from mid November, households will be able to add plastic bottles and cardboard to their fortnightly kerbside collections. A special blue bag will be delivered to households, with an information pack giving details of the scheme. The new blue bag will be used for cardboard and paper, while the existing black box will be used for plastic bottles, cans, and glass.

To make rounds more efficient, the Council is looking at collection days across the district, and may have to change collection days for households. This will apply to refuse, recycling and green waste collections. Further information will be delivered to residents across the district in October.

This major expansion also follows news that recycling for the district hit an all time high in June with a rate of 28%.

Cllr Nicholas Kenton, Cabinet Member for Environment, Waste and Planning said: This exciting news represents a major expansion of the service from DDC. We thank everyone for the increasing use of existing services, and we urge householders across the district to keep recycling and to add plastic and cardboard to their kerbside recycling, to help us work together to continue to improve the way we protect the environment for the future.

What does it mean to you?

Recycling

What can I put in my blue bag?

Cardboard and paper can be put in the blue bag for collection.

What can I put in my black box?

Plastic bottles, drink cans, food tins, glass jars and glass bottles can be put in your black box for collection. There is no need to separate these into plastic bags, just wash and squash (where possible) and place in your black box for collection. Not only is this an improvement to the service and better for the cleanliness of the street but because you are not using plastic bags it is also better for the environment.


Green Waste


During the month of November an expansion of the green waste scheme will also take place, taking the collection and composting of green waste to another 13,000 properties. This will bring the total number of households in the district with fortnightly green waste collections to 35,000. Details of the rounds will be available in October and you will be able to view them at www.dover.gov.uk/recycling


Weekly refuse collections


Although your collection day may change, weekly household refuse collections will continue.

However, please use your recycling and green waste collections where possible so that the amount of waste sent to landfill is reduced. Waste sent to landfill produces harmful gases like methane, which is thought to contribute to global warming.