Residents reminded to cut contamination this Recycling Week

Mountains of recyclable waste waiting to be sorted at Mid Uk's plant. EMN-180919-095748001

The partnership of county and district councils is issuing bin stickers to all areas with recycle bins or postcards to some other households in the county where bins are not used.

The stickers will begin to be distributed this week and are part of Lincolnshire’s contribution to National Recycle Week (September 24 to 30), although it may take some weeks to reach every part of the county.

The stickers are designed to highlight some of the ‘worst offending’ items that are incorrectly put into recycling bins which can be dangerous, or contaminate other items and stop them being suitable for recycling too.

Something that should not be put in the recycling bin! Ammunition found among the recycling at Mid Uk's recycling plant. EMN-180919-095759001

Current figures show that more than a quarter of all recycling is unusable due to contamination, which means the equivalent of one lorry load in four cannot be recycled.

The items highlighted to residents are nappies or sanitary products, batteries or electrical items and food waste.

This has been highlighted in a lithium battery being the suspected cause of a fire at the household waste recycling plant at Barkston Heath, near Sleaford, run by Mid UK Recycling last week. Fire investigations are continuing, but the recycling firm believe the batteries was brought in with the recyclable household waste from around Lincolnshire.

Chairman of the LWP, Coun Eddy Poll said: “The Lincolnshire Waste Partnership is working hard towards improving the county’s recycling efforts.

“We recognised that there was room for improvement nationally and within our recycling streams in Lincolnshire and addressing that need is one of the priorities for this partnership.

“With the valued co-operation of all the districts councils, it has been possible to produce and distribute stickers or postcards to every household.

“We all have a part to play in looking after the environment for future generations and getting our recycling right is just one of the ways we can all help.”

The importance of recycling right will be the focus for the partnership, which is made up of Lincolnshire County Council, all seven district councils in the county and the Environment Agency, during National Recycling Week which starts next Monday and runs until September 30.

Further information on what can and cannot be placed in your recycle bins can be found on your district council websites.