Offer to bring waste bins and recycling bins to Wokingham rejected
A motion that could have seen combined bins and recycling bins across Wokingham was defeated.
Combination bins are a common site across the country, and they allow passers-by to throw away recyclables like beverage bottles and cans for reuse.
Garbage cans are a common site in Reading and Wokingham town centers.
But an offer to bring the trash into towns and villages in the Borough of Wokingham – in places like downtown Woodley – was turned down.
The general bins should have been replaced by the combined bins.
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Councilor Shirley Boyt (Labor, Bulmershe & Whitegates), who presented the motion, said: The approach: First by replacing all the borough’s bins with double bins and recycling bins starting with those of the city centers, processions and parks.
“Second, provide double bins and recycling bins on popular walking routes to schools in places not covered by the first paragraph above.
“It’s a very simple motion. When I walk around the neighborhood, I see overflowing trash cans, which on closer inspection are almost always full of cans and plastic bottles. When I walk around the country I see double bins, with a section for garbage and a section for recyclables, and I wonder why we don’t have one in Wokingham.
“The majority of our residents are sensible people. They put their waste in bins and they want to recycle it. The already high recycling rate in the borough is proof of this. I urge you to vote for this motion to give our wonderful residents more recycling opportunities to help protect the planet for future generations.
The motion was seconded by Cllr Rachel Burgess (Labor, Norreys).
But the ruling Conservatives rejected the motion.
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Cllr Gregor Murray (Conservative, Norreys), Executive Member for Shows, said: “I would love to be able to support this motion, but unfortunately I just can’t. This motion is clearly going to be very expensive. From what I understand, due to fire and health safety regulations these bins cost around £ 1000 each, and across the borough we need hundreds, if not thousands of them.
“This motion has no cost, it did not tell us how much it will cost, and the irony of various groups calling for increased scrutiny and wanting to get into the finite details of the solar farm and then be able to accept this motion, without it being fully encrypted, I think that is frankly ridiculous.
BUILT-IN TWEET
Cllr Parry Batth (Curator, Shinfield South), Executive Member of Environment and Recreation, said: “Oddly enough, on-the-go recycling is very, very popular in city centers and we have it in downtown Montreal. Wokingham and Elms Field.
“We are therefore careful to install dual-use bins where appropriate. It will not be profitable for two reasons. Number one: the cost of replacing around a thousand bins throughout the borough would be significant and on the other hand the total amount of waste collected in the bins is around 600 tonnes per year and taking into account the quality of recycling collected in the double bins and the amount of recycling would be very small. This would increase our recycling by half a percent.
The motion was defeated by 27 votes to 20.