Presentation to MDC members –7 September 2020

Get ready to Recycle More

Coming to Mendip,October 2020

www.somerset.gov.uk/recycle-more

#RecycleMore #BrightBlueBag

What is Recycle More?An expended recycling service that will reduce waste, help protect the environment and save taxpayers’ money.

Collecting more from the kerbside, notably plastic pots, tubs and trays.

More recycling means less rubbish, so rubbish bins and bags collected every three weeks instead of every two.

Recycle More is coming to Mendip over two weeks, beginning Monday, 26 October.

People will need to do things a little differently:• Collection days will change for approx. a third of households• Different items into different boxes. • Householder will receive a new recycling container – a Bright Blue Bag.

Schools + properties with communal collections (e.g. flats) expanded recycling in Feb 2021.

SWP recycling in numbers 2019/20

90%

Recycling stays in UK

51%Recycling stays in

Somerset

Schools serviced

135,421

20million

Collections per year

100%Food & garden

waste recycled in Somerset

260,000

52%Bin contents that could be

recycled

Homes collected

from

1 Tonne

Waste per household

7thCarbonsaving ranking

53%Overall

recyclingrate

67,574Tonnes Carbon saved

Tonnes recycled

273

Why Recycle More?

Still, more than half the contents of the average rubbish bin could have been recycled.

Kerbside Recycling Rate 2019/20 *

Somerset 46.6%

Mendip 43.6%

Recycling rates have stayed the same for eight years

More recycling = less waste to dispose of. We expect to save around £2m a year across all SWP

With Recycle More and behaviour change,

by 2023 our aim is to:

• Increase recycling rate to 60%

• Reduce rubbish by 15%

*Indicative figure. Precise figures are difficult to calculate because collection routesand depots do not follow local government boundaries.

What is changing?

Collecting more from the kerbside

We are adding the following to our weekly collections:

• Plastic pots, tubs and trays (known as PTT)• Food and drinks cartons• Small household batteries & small electrical items

Introducing the Bright Blue Bag• Plastics bottles, pots, tubs and trays• Food and drinks cans• Foil and aerosols.

Hard-wearing, weighted, folds-flat, Velcro-fastened.

Three-weekly rubbish collections

Collecting more recycling every week means more space in rubbish bins. So, rubbish will collected every three weeks rather than fortnightly. This was trialled successfully in Somerset six years ago and serves hundreds of thousands of households in other parts of the country.

Graphic of bin here

• 16 authorities on 3 weekly collections (two on 4 weekly)• Nearly 1.5m households – so millions of people

New routesCollection routes will be updated and more efficient.

Different collection daysFor roughly a third of households in Mendip, collection days will change as routes change - Frome collected on one day, rather than two; Wells and Shepton Mallet collected on same day, rural collections brought together.

* Garden waste collections will continue as they are now (check collection days online)

What goes where?

With new items collected in the Bright Blue Bag, what goes into which recycling container is changing.

Once it has arrived, this is how you recycling should be sorted.

The best depot sorting can’t compete with resident sorting, supported by crews loading the trucks. Contaminated recycling has less value, increases costs, and can be rejected and sent for disposal rather than recycling.

Why sort at the kerbside?

This October (for Mendip only)

Recycle More is coming to Mendip from26 October, 2020

Over two weeks, depending on exactly where you live.

South Somerset to follow in June/July, 2021.

Remember: Nothing changes until people receive a Bright Blue Bag!They need to carry on recycling as they are until Recycle More arrives.

Phase Area Households Date

1 Mendip 51,768 26 Oct, 2020

2 South Somerset 76, 563 June/July, 2021

3 Somerset West and Taunton(Taunton Deane area)

55,207 end Sept, 2021

4 Sedgemoor + SW&T (West Somerset area)

54,24617,959

28 Feb, 2022

Collection day calendar

Every household will be sent its own collection day calendar, making clear when recycling and rubbish will be collected for the next 12 months.

This will be part of a Pre-Launch leaflet sent three weeks before the service changes.

Because of the move to three-weekly collections, some households will need an extra rubbish collection. This will be made clear in the collection calendar.

Some households (c37%) will have a collection day change

Doing more onlineWe will use Recycle More to encourage people to make use of SWP’s enhanced online presence to get ready for Recycle More.You can already download a collection day calendar into your computer or mobile device calendar using the ‘My Collection Day’ button on our homepage or through your online account with SWP (set up using the ‘My Account’ button on the homepage).

My AccountAll the MWS functions, plus• A full history of your transactions with SWP• Useful service info and updates

For Recycle More, you will be able to use MWS to ask questions about extra waste capacity.

My Waste Services (MWS)Report missed collectionsRequest containers, clinical and assisted collectionsRequest and pay for a garden waste sack collectionsCompliments and complaintsAnd more...

Here to help

Somerset trials and experience elsewhere (16 other LAs) show that with guidance and support, three-weekly collections work well.

People can recycle more, so there is much less rubbish for bins and bags.

What support is available?

Customer Services• Briefed in advance• Contacts triaged and

prioritised

Website information • Refreshed and updated• Info about Recycle More• Tips on managing and

reducing waste

Extra staff• Customer Services

and Waste Management

• Dedicated to Recycle More

Online engagement• Facebook Q&A

sessions• Talking Café

sessions

It is important to make full use of the kerbside collections.

There will be some questions and worries. We want to address them before Recycle More arrives.

Requests for more space

These should be raised through the usual routes:• Online using the My Waste Services portal or ‘My Account’• Telephone calls to district council Customer Services

Contacts will be triaged, prioritised and handled by dedicated staff as required.Everyone will be encouraged to make sure they have the right containers, are managing their waste and can make full use of the weekly collections.

This can be followed up with telephone calls and visits, and extra space – a larger rubbish bin or stickers for rubbish sacks – arranged if essential.

We expect requests for extra space, especially from larger families, families with children in nappies and those disposing of large amounts of waste for medical reasons (e.g. Adult Hygiene Products - AHP).

Promoting alternatives:We provide £11,000 of funding for three local cloth nappy support groups helping people switch to reusable nappies.

• Carry Me Kate Parenting Services CIC (covers Mendip)• South Somerset Cloth Nappy Library• Frome Cloth Nappy Library

Communications and engagement

Aims

• Raise awareness of Recycle More and its benefits.

• Let residents know what they need to do differently, and when.

• Get residents excited about the new service and motivated to recycle more.

• Encourage residents to prepare (e.g. ordering recycling boxes, setting-up collection day reminders).

• Tackle concerns in advance – if you think you may need extra support, get in touch.

• Inspire champions and ambassadors for Recycle More.

• Use Recycle More as a chance increase recycling of all materials from the kerbside.

• Emphasise the role recycling plays in protecting our environment and tackling climate change.

• Ensure stakeholders, partners and interested groups and organisations are well-briefed, so they can support all the above.

We can change the service, but we need to change behaviour to really get the benefits

COVID-19

The pandemic delayed the introduction of Recycle More, which was due to start in Mendip at the end of June. It has also meant some changes to our approach to communications.

Online engagement – now more important, with the loss of public events due to social distancing. Social media ‘drop-ins’ planned – out of working hours, dedicated to answering Recycle More questions.

Virtual meetings – replacing face-to-face meetings with stakeholders e.g. parish and town councils, Talking Cafes.

Virtual schools visits – delivered as part of our Schools Against Waste initiative, offered as an alternative to classroom visit.

We will monitor advice and follow guidance, making face-to-face engagement part of the offer when it is safe to do so.

Audiences

External

• Residents - anyone who will receive the ‘standard’ Recycle More service, especially lower recycling rate areas

• Anyone who will receive specific Recycle More service (e.g. communal collections)

• Schools – staff, pupils & parents

• MPs, parish, town and city councils

• Local/regional press media and social media communities

• Voluntary groups and organisations

• Community groups

• Environmental groups

• Hard to reach groups

Internal – potential Champions

• County and District councillors

• Staff at all Somerset local authorities (approx. 4,500)

• Mendip District Council staff (approx. 175)

• Local authority communications teams

• SWP and district council Customer Service teams

• Collection crews

• Recycling centre staff

Key actions Briefings & meetings

Direct mailingOnline &

social mediaPublic Engagement

& MediaExpanded schools

Engagement

Stakeholder Briefing Pack distributed

Warm-up leaflet to all Mendip households

6 weeks before launch

Detailed & updated web content.

My Waste Services

Info and materials at key public locations.

(libraries, public offices, supermarkets, recycling

centres etc)

Assemblies & workshops offered to all

52 Mendip Primaries(face-to-face or virtual)

Meetings, briefings (inclvirtual) with

interested groups and organisations

Pre-Launch leaflet to all Mendip households

3 weeks before launch

FacebookTwitter

images, video, memes, gifs,

graphics

Info and staff presence at public locations & events (subject to

COVID-19 restrictions)

School gate ‘roadshows’ for parents

(TBC)

Encouraging‘Champions’

Your Somerset newspaper

Facebook ‘event’ drop-ins

PR and briefings for media

Activity Pack to schools and online

Regular updatesMy Account subscribers

Sorted E-zineStakeholder

updatesInterviews as required.

Materials for secondary schools

Warm-up leaflet (mid-September)Will be sent to all Mendip households (51,768) by our contractor (Suez) arriving mid-September, six weeks before Recycle More starts.

Introduces Recycle More

• Expanded recycling

• Three-weekly rubbish collections

• When things will change

• How to prepare

• How to get in touch

Introduces the Bright Blue Bag.

* The 2019 WRAP tracker survey found ‘Council leaflet’ as the most common source of people’s knowledge about what can be recycled.

Pre-Launch leaflet (early October)

Will be sent to all Mendip households by our contractor (SUEZ) arriving early October,

three weeks before Recycle More starts.

More detail about Recycle More

• Individual collection day calendar

• What goes where guide

• How recycling protects our environment

• How to prepare

• How to get in touch

Your Bright Blue Bag is coming soon.

Campaign timeline – key activities

w/c 12 Oct Pre-launch Facebook drop-in

w/c 14 Sept Warm-up leaflet

arrives

w/c 14 SeptSept Your Somerset

SAW visits begin (TBC)

w/c Sept 21 Warm-up Facebook

Q&A

31 July

SWP Board meeting

w/c 17 Aug Awareness

Raising Facebook Q&A

26 OctRecycle More

launchMendip

w/c OctPre-Launch leaflet

arrives

w/c 24 Aug Display

materials distributed

PR stakeholder

briefings

w/c 26 Oct Post launch Facebook drop-in

w/c 9 Nov Post launch PR &

Stakeholder updates

w/c 7 SeptWarm-up comms

w/c 28 Sept Pre-launch

comms

w/c 19 Sept Pre-launch

comms

How can you help? This is a big change that will affect everyone in Somerset. We want to get it right.

You cab help...

• If you can include information about Recycle More in any newsletters or community bulletins, please do (toolkit included in the Full Briefing Pack).

• Editable or standard posters to be circulated before the end of the month.

• If you use social media, please follow @somersetwaste on Facebook and Twitter and share #RecycleMore messages whenever you can

• Sign-post people to information: SWP website somersetwaste.gov.uk/recycle-more and social media @somersetwaste

• Use the briefing pack, including FAQs, to answer queries if you can.

• Attend one of the Parish meetings planned for 8, 17 and 24 September.

• If you know of meetings (virtual or face-to-face) or events that would benefit

from a Recycle More presence, tell us know. We’ll come if we can.

• Tell us of any a group or organisation you think would like to know more.

• Email recycle@somersetwaste.gov.uk