Berkshire councils approve plastic bag recycling collections

Councillors have unanimously voted in favour of the recycling trial that will begin in Reading next month

A trial that will allow households to recycle plastic bags and wrappers has been approved.

Councillors from Reading, Bracknell Forest and Wokingham Borough councils voted unanimously in favour of the plans on Thursday.

Residents will be able to throw away plastic bags and food wrappers with their recycling.

Thousands of Reading homes will be part of the £200,000 trial, which is likely to start towards the end of July.

Under the scheme, people will also be able to throw away plastic sleeves, bubble wrap, cling film and net bags into a blue single-use bag which refuse collectors will send to a national processing centre.

But plastic straws and cutlery, pills and tablets blister packs, disposable masks, and foam or polystyrene won't be included.

Plastic bottles and ready-meal trays will go with the rest of the recycling as normal.

Selected homes in Reading will receive information leaflets along with their blue recycling bags soon.

The trial is part of a national research trial run by the FlexCollect project, which is backed and funded by the government.

Wokingham councillor Sarah Kerr said she found one "sticking point" with how the scheme will run.

Councillor Kerr told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that Wokingham Borough Council has recently decided to replace plastic recycling bags with wheelie bins.

"If we then re-introduce single-use plastic bags that is then optically going to be very, very bad for us", Councillor Kerr added.

She asked if there is "an alternative way of collecting" without the need for single-use plastic bags.

Sarah Innes of re3, the waste collection company serving Reading, Bracknell and Wokingham, said: "We're happy to talk to FlexCollect about what options there might be for the second year, but it might be there isn't an awful lot we can do."

The trial will be expanding across Wokingham and Bracknell next year.

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