Free caddy liners scrapped by Council

FOOD recycling caddy liners will no longer be provided for free in a move to be more green and reduce waste while also helping save money for vital services. 

Tameside Council has provided free compostable caddy liners since launching food waste recycling to support households to adapt to the change.

However, it is not necessary to use caddy liners and recycling food waste directly into the caddy and brown bin without a liner is the more environmentally friendly option as it further reduces waste as well as the carbon footprint of producing liners.

Additionally, the liners cost public funds nearly £170k a year, which is an unaffordable luxury in the current financial climate of sustained Government funding cuts and the need to make budget savings.

Green caddy liners have been scrapped in a move to cut waste

The council’s Executive Cabinet has agreed to stop providing the liners for free to help reduce waste and as part of wider service savings to help safeguard limited public funds to protect frontline services.

Households are strongly encouraged to continue to recycle their food waste – preferably by recycling waste food directly in their brown bin and/or caddy as the greener option. However, residents who wish to still use compostable caddy liners can buy them from most supermarkets and stores where they would normally buy their bin bags.

People are asked to please not use newspaper or non-compostable bags such as recyclable/non-recyclable carrier bags to wrap their food waste as these are classed as contamination and would lead to whole wagon loads being rejected for recycling.

Tameside Council Executive Member responsible for environmental services Cllr Denise Ward said: “The collection of food waste is a well-established practice across households in Tameside now and, while the provision of free caddy liners initially helped to encourage people to change their habits and recycle their food waste, it is not absolutely essential to enable residents to continue recycling.

Compostable caddy liners are easily available for people to buy along with their other bin bags but even compostable items do add to unnecessary waste so the greener option – and our preference –  is for people to simply put their food waste directly into their caddies and brown bins without using liners, as many people already do.

“While we realise some people may be disappointed with this decision and may find it inconvenient, I’m confident people will quickly adapt to recycling without caddy liners. Where they still want to use them, they are welcome to do so but they will need to buy them along with their other bin bags. We need residents to work with us to help us to reduce waste and look after the environment as well as achieve savings so we can continue to run services that matter most to people within our limited budget.

“As always my thanks goes to residents for recycling as much of their waste as possible, including their food waste. Recycling helps the environment and helps safeguard public funds for providing vital frontline services such as supporting vulnerable children and adults.”

4 Replies to “Free caddy liners scrapped by Council”

  1. Another excuse for not spending, let the brown bins smell to high heaven and then the bin men will refuse to empty them and I can’t blame them for this.
    Stop all the waste of time meetings and feeding the councillors then they might get some money back

  2. Green bins will get heavier!!!!!
    How much do the council make from the food waste we generate in the Borough.
    The brown bin waste is treated at the waste centre in Bredbury. The waste is composted in special tanks that use the gas generated ,this gas is then used to generate electricity which is sold to the national grid. So who gets the money, certainly not us.
    I won’t even mention the parking charge increase.

  3. Just a cop out and another pass the buck to the residents of Tameside. I hope people stop recycling why should they if the council make it harder and let’s face it more unhygienic.

  4. So Tameside Council want to save more money. Do they not already receive enough money from their own residents who pay ridiculous amounts in Council Tax every month?? I for one would like a Council who actually want to make their residents lives easier and give good value services for that money. In fact, I may apply to become a Councillor and actually be one of the few who try to support the people for once instead of treating them like cash cows.

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