Reading Residents To Find Out New Waste Collection Dates

Reading residents are being asked to be on the lookout for an important communication through the post from the Council over the next week. 54,000 households will receive their bin calendars for February 2021 until January 2022, and for many this will also include notification of a new collection day.

84% of households will have a change to their collection day, whilst half will see their collection week changing, with the new dates revealed in the bin calendar mailing arriving within the next week. The changes are being made to make sure food waste is collected on the same day as recycling and household waste, and will come into effect from 1^st February when food waste collections start.

The mailing residents receive will also include details of the weekly food waste recycling service. Reading currently recycles around 35% of waste, and the Council is aiming is to get that up to 50%, with the help of food waste recycling. 3,300 Reading households are already trialling food waste collections as part of the Council’s ‘early adopters’ scheme, and most other residents will receive their kitchen caddies and outdoor food waste bins in January. This will coincide with 240l grey household waste bins being swapped for smaller 140l black bins to encourage people to make use of the new scheme and send less waste to landfill.

More details on the weekly food waste recycling scheme can be found here: https://www.reading.gov.uk/environment/waste-and-recycling/food-waste-collection/

Reading’s Lead Councillor for Neighbourhoods & Communities, Adele Barnett-Ward, said:

"The mailing reaching the majority of residents in the next week is a really important one, as it’s an early notification of the new bin days, and the calendar format means residents can use it throughout the first year of the new service to keep track of which bins to put out when. The change of day is needed so our different crews can work together to simplify the increased service for residents and make sure they have the same collection day for food waste, recycling, and their grey bins. With a highly successful food recycling test scheme already being used by 3,300 households, we are really excited about providing the service to the majority of the town in February, and the environmental benefits it will bring as we aim to get Reading’s recycling rate up to 50%".

Reading Borough Council has also announced changes to garden waste collections over the Christmas period. Collections due on Friday 25th December will take place on Tuesday 29th December, after which the Garden Waste Service will then be suspended until week commencing 11th January when collections will take place one day later than the normal collection day.