New bins delivered to residents’ homes
New black wheeled bins and food caddies will soon start arriving at people’s homes across East Cambridgeshire.
The new bins and caddies are being provided as part of a district wide waste and recycling upgrade, to help people reduce waste and recycle more.
Each household will get one new black wheeled bin, which is replacing the traditional black sacks, and will be collected every two weeks.
Residents will also receive a smaller green food caddy to keep somewhere handy in their kitchen and a larger caddy for food waste, which will be collected weekly.
The bins will start to be delivered to households from Monday 30 March. We’ve got 45,000 properties to deliver to, so please bear with us.
All new bins will be delivered in time for the new service to start from 1 June. We’ll update our Facebook pages and website with details of when each town or village can expect to receive their new bins.
Attached to each bin is an information pack for residents and a calendar to explain when the new service will start and which bins to put out on which day.
Here are a few things residents need to know
DON’T USE BINS YET – Residents are being asked not to use the new bins until the service starts from 1 June. Black wheeled bins and food caddies put out before these dates will not be collected because they require specialised vehicles which won’t start operating until 1 June.
CHECK DATES – To help make the new rounds more efficient, some residents may experience a change to their collection dates AFTER 1 June.
New calendars are provided with the bins informing residents which day their bins (or bags if they receive an alternative collection) will be collected and which days to put them out.
The following areas will have a new bin day from 1 June:
- Isleham, Queen Adelaide and Soham Fen – MONDAY collection
- Aldreth, Bottisham, Coveney, Haddenham, Little Downham, Little Thetford, Lode, Lode Fen, Longmeadow, Mepal, Pymoor, Six Mile Bottom, Stretham and Wilburton – TUESDAY collection
- Burwell, Reach, Swaffham Bulbeck and Swaffham Prior – WEDNESDAY collection
- Littleport and Littleport Fen – THURSDAY collection
All other collection days, including Soham and Ely, remain unchanged
What goes in what bin
Black wheeled bins: Standard households will each receive one black wheeled bin. This is large enough to contain the equivalent of three black sacks. It will be collected every two weeks and means no more ripped black bags in the streets. As the new bin replaces black sacks, these are no longer being provided free of charge by the council. Residents who live in properties that cannot accommodate the bins will be provided with purple bags for anything that cannot be recycled.
Weekly food waste collections: Each household will receive a green caddy to keep in their kitchen. This is to collect food scraps, including vegetable peelings, plate scrapings, bones and tea bags. Residents will also receive a year’s supply of caddy liners for free. When it’s full, the bag can be simply tied up and placed in the larger food caddy, which has a lockable lid, for weekly collection. All collected food will be put to good use as fertiliser or green energy.
Soft plastics in blue bins: From 1 June, soft plastics can also be put in with household recycling. These include things like bubble wrap, food packaging and carrier bags.
Garden waste: We’re still continuing our free garden waste collection. Residents should no longer put food waste in their green-lidded bin, this is for garden waste only.
There is more information about the new service on our website, including information on how to request additional bins, what to do if you need help moving bins, or if you cannot accommodate the bins.
