Rubbish, Recycling and Waste Services
Bedford Borough Council provides waste services for
recycling and garden waste, as well as collecting and disposing of
normal household waste.
Use the list of pages to the left to out more about the
services we provide.
NEWS FROM THE RECYCLING TEAM
JUNE 2010: RECYCLE
WEEK
Bedford Borough's Recycling Team will be holding roadshow events
to promote recycling of small waste electrical and electronic
equipment, also known as WEEE. This includes items such as
toasters, hairdryers and electric toothbrushes which often don’t
get recycled and are simply thrown away with the household rubbish
or left to gather dust in the loft or garage. Visit us to find out
more about recycling your old electrical items, and enter our
competition to win a new, energy efficient one!
Wed 23th June, outside Woolworths, Midland Road, Bedford;
Thurs 24th, Fri 25th & Sat 26th June, Bedford HWRC.
MAY 2010: COMPOST
AWARENESS WEEK
This year for Compost Awareness Week the team will be at the
Harpur Cenre on Tuesday 4th and Wednesday 5th May from 10am to 3pm.
Visit our display for information on home composting and have a go
at planting some seeds. You will also have the chance to enter a
competition to win a home composter and a kitchen composter! For
more information on home composting visit our webpage at the
menu on the left or go to www.recyclenow.com.
APRIL 2010: REAL NAPPY WEEK
This year Real Nappy Week begins on 26th April and we will be at
the Howard Centre on Tuesday 27th and Wednesday 28th from 10am to
3pm. Come and visit the Real Nappy display to find out more about
Real Nappies and Bedford Borough's new cash back scheme. You will
also have the chance to enter our free competition to win a 'Birth
to Potty' Real Nappy pack. For more information on real nappies
visit the page in the list on the left or go to www.goreal.org.uk.
FEBRURARY 2010: BATTERY RECYCLING
Battery containers have been placed in the Town Hall and Borough
Hall reception areas to encourage residents to recycle their used
portable household batteries. The UK currently collects less than
3% of waste portable batteries, one of the lowest rates in Europe.
Batteries contain various hazardous metals and can be damaging to
the environment if disposed of through landfill. Recycling
batteries reduces the need to mine raw materials and the harm to
the environment that this process causes.
Also look out for household battery collection facilities at
large retailers nationwide which now must be provided in light of
new EU regulations. Batteries accepted include: 6V, 9V, AA, AAA, C,
D, lithium and button.
DECEMBER 2009: DUAL LITTER AND RECYCLING BINS INTRODUCED
TO BEDFORD TOWN CENTRE
Bedford Town Centre shoppers can now recycle their plastic
bottles and drinks cans thanks to a new initiative launched by the
Mayor of Bedford Borough Council, Dave Hodgson, on Tuesday
22nd December 2009. The first six; dual litter and
recycling bins located in the Town Centre are located at Harpur
Square and along Midland Road between Clintons card shop and Costa
Coffee, and there is hope that if successful the scheme will be
rolled out to other busy amenity areas in the Borough next year.
For more information visit the new web page ' Recycle on the go' on
the left-hand menu.
NOVEMBER 2009: NEW 09/10 COLLECTION CALENDAR AND
RECYCLING GUIDE NOW AVAILABLE TO DOWNLOAD
The new 'Recycling Guide' including your collection calendar for
2009/2010 is now available to download. We will also be
delivering copies to households across the Borough starting on
the 2nd November. Included within the Guide is further information
on recycling and reducing your waste. Click below to download the
full Guide or the separate collection calendar:
Recycling Guide 2009-2010
Collection Calendar
2009-2010
NOVEMBER 2009: NEW HOME COMPOSTING SCHEME
ANNOUNCED
Following the end of the WRAP (Waste and Resources Action
Program) subsidised home composting scheme in September the Council
has been working to establish a new scheme with an extended range
of products. We have now developed a new scheme in partnership with
Straight Plc which includes two sizes of composter as well as a new
composting system designed specifically for food waste and a
reduced price water butt system. For further
information on the new scheme and details of how to order, click
here.
SEPTEMBER 2009: NEW RECYCLING SCHEME LAUNCHED FOR
FLATS
For the past four months the Recycling Team at Bedford Borough
Council has been trialling a new collection scheme for flats so
that they can recycle more of their waste. The bins have been
installed in the new Castle Quay development, and the flats along
Appledore Road and Hilbre Grange at the top of Shakespeare
Road. The bins have been very successful as they have
increased the amount of waste that is recycled, reduced the amount
of contamination which can lead to recyclables being landfilled,
and reduced that amount of rubbish going to landfill.
The new service has been so successful that we are now rolling
out the scheme to the rest of the Borough. Bins will be
rolled out to larger blocks of flats first before we start work
across the whole of the Borough.
If you would like to know more about the new scheme or are a
managing agent of a block of flats and are interested in the new
service, please contact us at recycling@bedford.gov.uk
SEPTEMBER 2009: STATE OF THE ART BOTTLE BANK INSTALLED
IN KEMPSTON
Bedford Borough Council has installed an underground bottle bank
in Hillgrounds, Road, Kempston. This unique system is the
second of its kind to be installed in Bedford, the first one is
located at Avon Drive in Bedford. This system is easy to use,
vandal proof and has a larger capacity than the normal glass
banks that members of the public are used to seeing. The
system works by storing large metal units underground for clear,
brown and green glass. There is a small metal unit on top of
each unit with a chute for the bottles and jars. The three
hooks on the top of each unit are to allow DSD to lift the large
metal containers out of the ground and empty them. This site
also offers an underground paper recycling bank, but don't forget,
paper can go into your orange lidded recycling bin or your orange
bag. The council hopes to install more glass collection banks like
these in the future, which are emptied on a weekly basis.
For more information on the Council's local recycling sites,
please contact the Help Desk on 0800 121 8888.
To order a bin or bags please contact the Environmental Helpdesk
on 0800 121 8888 or email: CallCentre@bedford.gov.uk
For general waste enquiries or to book the recycling team for an
event please email us at: recycling@bedford.gov.uk