East Suffolk Council
Cost-effective Council purchase for Better Recycling scheme
East Suffolk Council’s Cabinet has agreed a cost-effective purchase, from existing budgets, to help ensure that the new ‘Better Recycling’ scheme is as simple as possible for residents to understand.
From 2026, East Suffolk Council will supply all households with an additional wheelie bin or other container to separate paper and card from plastics, metal, cartons (including Tetra Pak) and glass bottles or jars. This will be in addition to a brand-new weekly food waste collection service.
Better Recycling is a government initiative which every council must adopt, and all councils must seek compliance with what is expected, doing so in a financially prudent way. As part of this, all Suffolk councils, are expected - and have agreed - to standardise waste and recycling bin colours across Suffolk, as part of the government’s push for greater consistency.
With this in mind, changes are required to colours in East Suffolk, which are currently out of step with the rest of the county. Additionally, a colour clash will be resolved, helping to avoid confusion for residents.
However, rather than purchasing new bins, East Suffolk Council’s Cabinet has instead opted to introduce new bin lids, in the appropriate colour, at a fraction of the cost. To replace bins in their entirety would cost £875,000 plus distribution which would take the overall cost to over £1 Million. However, replacement lids, will cost around £350,000 to purchase and install, providing a far cheaper and more environmentally friendly option.
Cllr Sally Noble, East Suffolk's cabinet member for the Environment said: “When our garden waste subscription service was introduced some years ago, the previous Conservative administration decided not to follow the approved waste and recycling colour scheme, and introduced green bins for garden waste instead of the established brown.
“We said from early on that this could cause confusion when alongside the new green-lidded bin we are introducing for card and paper as part of ‘Better Recycling’. However, it is important that we address this as cost-effectively as possible, and replacing lids, only, is far cheaper.
“This money comes from an existing budget, where – thanks to excellent procurement work by the council – we have remaining funding in place which we are able to utilise.
“Ultimately, this is a step we must take, to ensure consistency and simplicity, and I am entirely satisfied that this approach is the most cost-effective way to meet our objectives.”
The ’Better Recycling’ Scheme will be introduced next June.