Image
Thank you to everyone who helped by reducing their household’s waste and recycling as much as possible over the festive period.
The figures now in show that:
- more than 214 tonnes of additional recycling was collected during the festive period, compared to the average amount during the rest of the year
- there was a reduction in the amount of general (black bin) waste, with 23 tonnes less collected than in the same period in 2021
- food waste also reduced, with 25 tonnes less being collected than in the same period in 2021
- more than £37,350 was raised for local charities through the real Christmas tree recycling schemes. In total, more than 2,300 trees were donated to St Peter’s Hospice in Long Ashton and collected by Rotary Weston-super-Mare in aid of Weston Hospicecare.
Please continue to reduce, reuse and recycle as much as possible and help us improve their year.
Follow the team on Facebook and Twitter for inspiration and ideas.
Find out how you can help create a healthier, happier, greener North Somerset on the council website.
Garden waste collections restarted
Garden waste collections restarted this week following the festive break.
For garden waste customers, real Christmas trees will be taken from the kerbside in your first garden waste collection of the year so if you haven’t had yours yet, make sure you put your tree out when it’s due.
Check your collection days on our online collection calendar.
Alternatively, real trees can also be taken to one of our recycling centres, at Backwell, Portishead or Weston-super-Mare.
There is also still time to take your tree to Noah’s Ark Zoo Farm in Wraxall, where donated trees are either turned into chippings for use around the grounds or used for animal habitat enrichment.
Trees will be accepted until Sunday (22 January). Please leave it in the main car park during opening times (10.30am to 4pm).
Donations of old electronic devices needed
Did you receive a new smartphone, tablet or computer for Christmas and would you consider donating your old device to a good cause?
We work with non-profit organisation Donate It to recycle electronic devices.
The organisation refurbishes the equipment and then gifts it back to us, which we then distribute to people who would otherwise be digitally excluded.
Laptops, PCs, tablets, iPads and mobile phones are accepted. You can drop them off at Weston library or Clevedon library.
If you’re donating an Apple device, please make sure you delete your iCloud information first.
Reprieve for Backwell recycling centre
Plans to close Backwell recycling centre as a budget saving proposal for next year have been scrapped.
A proposal to close the site from 1 April 2023 was one of many ideas to close our £17m gap in the next financial year.
Closing the facility and reducing the number of recycling centres in North Somerset from three to two would have saved an estimated £300,000 a year.
Councillors listened to residents’ concerns and have removed this proposal from next year’s budget.
We have one of the best recycling rates in the country currently and will continue to encourage people to reduce, re-use and recycle as much as possible.
However, like all councils across the country, we continue to face inflationary cost pressures and stretched resources.
At the same time, we’re seeing rising demands on our services from more residents being pushed into poverty.
Unfortunately, we’re having to make really tough decisions.
The final budget and council tax levels for 2023/24 will be agreed at a meeting on Tuesday 21 February.
You can read our waste strategy online.