'Recycling revolution' begins in Sheffield

Blue boxes with information packs are currently being dropped off for people in the first phase of collections, which will cover the Stocksbridge, Deepcar, Chapeltown, High Green, Oughtibridge,

Hillsborough and Parson Cross areas.

The new recycling service will allow households to recycle paper, card, plastic bottles, tins and glass at the kerbside every two weeks – an increase on the current monthly collections.

Black bin collections of general waste, meanwhile, will continue to be weekly.

Every household in Sheffield will receive the new blue box by November, as the recycling service is rolled out in three phases across the city.

Glass, plastic and cans will now be collected in the blue bins people currently use for paper and card. Paper and card will instead now be collected in the new blue boxes.

Coun Shaffaq Mohammed, the council's cabinet member for the

environment, said: "This will allow Sheffielders to play their part in achieving our key aims of increasing Sheffield's recycling rate, minimising the amount sent to landfill and reducing carbon emissions.

"The recycling revolution has truly begun."

The new recycling service is being introduced after a survey found that just 42 per cent of Sheffielders are happy with the council's recycling service – the lowest satisfaction rate of any major city in the UK.

This year Sheffield is expected to recycle 28 per cent of its waste.

It is hoped that the new kerbside collections will bring this up to around 35 per cent, with a view to hit the target of 45 per cent by 2015.