Recycle more

Recycle more...

Help us to ‘Recycle more…’, send less to landfill and reach our zero carbon targets!

Recycle more… aims to encourage residents and businesses in our district to recycle more materials, more often. Together we can reach our goal of a 50% recycling rate with our Recycle more... plan.

Latest updates

We're currently working to increase participation in the food waste collection trial. In September 2022 we wrote to all households on the trial to advise that we would place a sticker on their black bins, reminding them to keep food waste out of the black bin and use the food waste recycling containers instead.

The letter also included a reminder of why it is important to recycle food waste and how the trial works. So far, 80% of black bins have been stickered and we've seen a 5.3% increase in participation. In October we collected an extra 480kg of food waste, compared with August - before this work began. We will continue to monitor participation in the trial once all bins have been stickered. Take a look under 'What's next' to see the next steps of the food waste collection trial.

The journey so far...

• 500 households are trialling two different recycling trollies in an attempt to make recycling easier and more convenient. You can read about the first recycling trolley trial on our news page, and our second trial further below.
• A weekly food waste collection trial launched for 2000 households in Measham and some surrounding villages in November 2019. The trial has since expanded to 4000 households in Coalville, Ravenstone and Whitwick. We've collected over 500 tonnes of food waste so far which has been recycled into biogas and a bio-fertiliser. That's a CO2 saving of around 375 tonnes! Find out more.
• Our Recycle more... project was one of just three finalists in the 2021 awards for Excellence in Recycling and Waste Management! We entered into the highly contested 'Best Local Authority Recycling Initiative' category. 
• Awareness is being raised about what can and can’t be recycled, where it goes and the consequences of not recycling. We've been doing this through social media, leaflets, school assemblies and community talks.
• A kerbside collection of batteries and old mobile phones was introduced for residents in December 2019. Almost 6 tonnes of batteries have been collected since!
• Around 43,000 crisp packets have been collected at the council offices and recycled through a TerraCycle scheme
• Primary school pupils in the district have taken part in a competition to name our recycling lorries. Read more below.

Recycle more year one achievements infographic (PDF Document, 1.9 Mb)

What’s next?

• To continue our work to boost participation on the food waste collection trial, in the spring we plan to speak to residents on the trial who do not recycle their food waste. This will help us to understand the barriers to recycling food waste and what would encourage them to take part. The Government has announced they will provide funding for councils to provide food waste collections. Once we have received more information, a decision can be made on whether to roll the collections out to the whole of North West Leicestershire.
• After both recycling trolley trials have run, we will review both trials to decide if one of the recycling trollies could be used as an alternative to the boxes and bags.
• We're reviewing the mini recycling sites (e.g. bottle banks) in the district. We recently ran a survey for you to provide your comments, feedback and suggestions about these sites. We now need to look at the results and create a plan for improving the mini recycling sites.

New recycling trolley trial

We're the first council in the UK to trial a new recycling trolley! You can read more about the new trial in our news story.

Over 4,500 people registered their interest in the trial and 250 volunteers are currently trialling the recycling trolley.

Recycling trolley features:

• Similar size to a 240 litre wheelie bin
• Option to choose how many drawers to use for each type of recycling (stickers will be provided)
• Extra red boxes, yellow bags & blue bags can be used alongside it if needed.

You may be aware we are also currently trialling another recycling trolley. Once both trials have run, we will evaluate feedback from volunteers and our crews to decide whether one of the trollies could be offered as an alternative to the current box/bag system.

Bindiana Jones… Recyclosaurus Rex… Meet our recycling lorries

Back in 2020 we invited local primary schools to take part in a competition to name six of our recycling lorries. To enter, each pupil had to colour in an image of a recycling lorry and give it a name.

After receiving more than 300 entries and lots of fantastic names, we had to pick just six winners. The winning names are:

• Riley the Recycler – Daniel Mander, age 9, Ibstock Junior School
• Bindiana Jones – Alfie Stewart, age 10, Orchard Community Primary School (Castle Donington)
• Recycle Rockstar – Amelia, Diseworth C of E Primary School
• Recycling Rita – Lalana Oldershaw-Gillan, age 10, St Charles' Catholic Primary School (Measham)
• Recyclosaurus Rex – Bailey Dutton, age 5, Ashby Hill Top Primary School
• Captain Recycle – Esme Pellecchia, age 10, Ashby Willesley Primary School

The recycling lorries display the winning names on the cab doors and on the back of the vehicles. Keep an eye out to see them collecting your separated glass, plastic/cans/tins, paper, textiles, batteries and mobile phones!

Let's create a greener and more sustainable district for everyone. Take a look at the related documents below to see how we plan to achieve this, and let us know how we can help you Recycle more...