Dacorum Borough Council first in UK to roll out 'lid-in-lid' bin to help residents recycle food waste

The innovative idea was revealed in the Hertfordshire Waste Partnership annual report
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Dacorum Borough Council has become the first in the UK to roll out a ‘lid-in-lid’ wheeled bin in a bid to help residents recycle their food waste.

The innovative idea was revealed in the Hertfordshire Waste Partnership (HWP) annual report for 2019/20.

The report was presented to Hertfordshire County Council’s Community Safety and Waste Management Cabinet Panel on Tuesday, February 9.

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Dacorum

The HWP report gives further details of how Dacorum Borough Council has offered waste recycling to households since 2014.

It states flats were not included in the initial roll out due to the complexities with respect to bin areas, predicted contamination and difficulties related to engaging residents living in flats.

In 2018/19, the council started a project focused on recycling services for mixed dry recyclables to all flats that did not have access to a recycling service.

The project covered around 3,000 properties. The next phase focused on providing food waste recycling to all 12,000 flats in the borough.

A three month trial for 1,600 properties proved a success. In order to reduce potential contamination, the council worked with its bin supplier.

The report states the authority was the first in the UK to roll out its ‘lid-in-lid’ 240 litre wheeled bins.

The bin locks the main lid and restricts users from inserting a bag larger than they could fit into a kitchen caddy.

All communal brown lid food waste bins had a sticker placed on the lid to clarify what should go in.

All properties were provided with their own recycling bundle which included:

– A kitchen caddy with a sticker on the lid to explain what goes in

– A roll of caddy liners

– A letter explaining the launch of the new service

– A leaflet explaining how to use the new service including how it helps the government and tips on how to reduce food waste

- If given a kerbside caddy they were also given a blank sticker for their to write their house number on.

The food waste bins are serviced by a dedicated crew. Contamination sheets are filled in by the crew and if there are more than three instances, then all properties who use those communal bins will receive a letter reminding them what should go into the bin and another copy of the leaflet.

The report said initial analysis showed a contamination rate of 2.5 per cent. Participation appeared to be ‘very good’ with around seven tonnes of food waste collected each week.