Bin day shake-up with switch to incineration

The waste put into black bins across Harborough will no longer be taken to landfill, the council has said

Residents in parts of south Leicestershire will be having their bin days switched so their waste can be incinerated.

Changes to where waste in parts of Harborough is disposed of will mean collections for a number of towns and villages have changed.

Leicestershire County Council has told the district authority that Cotesbach landfill site is no longer being used for the area’s waste.

Instead, Harborough’s household waste that is not being recycled is to be taken to Coventry Incinerator.

Residents in Market Harborough, Great Bowden, Little Bowden and Lubenham will have their waste collected on a Wednesday, rather than on a Tuesday.

Wednesday collections will move to a Tuesday for people in Ashby Parva, Bitteswell, Broughton Astley, Catthorpe, Claybrooke Magna and Parva, Cotesbach, Frolesworth, Leire, Lutterworth, Shawell, Sutton in the Elms, Swinford, Ullesthorpe and Walcote.

The changes will come into effect on Monday 4 November.

'Converted to energy'

Councillor Darren Woodiwiss said: “Approximately 25,000 properties within the Harborough district will require a collection day change to keep the service efficient and effective.”

The move comes after BBC analysis showed burning household rubbish in giant incinerators to make electricity is now the dirtiest way the UK generates power.

The BBC examined five years of data from across the country, and found that burning waste produces the same amount of greenhouse gases for each unit of energy as coal power, which was abandoned by the UK last month with the closure of Ratcliffe-on-Soar Power Station.

A Leicestershire County Council spokesperson said: "Our waste strategy aims to reduce waste, increase recycling, and avoid the leftover waste going to landfill, and to meet the national target of sending no more than 10% of household waste to landfill by 2035.

“All disposal options are considered and there is a preference to avoid burying waste for future generations due to the long-term environmental impacts.”