‘We’ll be learning and improving as we go’ says Milton Keynes Council ahead of new wheelie bin launch

With just days to go until households in MK can start filling their brand new wheelie bins, the council has described how the multi million pound project has been years in the making.

And they say they will be “learning and improving” as the new scheme progresses.

The switch from sacks to bins begins in 12 days’ time and the vast majority of city homes have now been issued with three new 180 bins in preparation.

These will be used in conjunction with the existing green wheelie bins, meaning each household has four to store and put out for collection.

General waste will go in the black-lidded bin and be collected weekly, along with food and garden waste in green bins. The blue-lidded bin for plastic, metal and glass and the red-lidded bin for paper and card will be emptied on alternate weeks.

A council spokesperson said today (Wednesday) that three-quarters of local residents said they preferred wheelie bins to sacks in the initial consultation about the scheme.

Carried out over 12 weeks from November 2020 until January 2021, the council describes it as its “most responded-to consultation”, prompting 4,484 replies.

However this represents less than 2% of the city’s population or under 5% of the number of households in Milton Keynes.

In May, a determined resident conducted his own survey by social media and came up with a very different result. He sent the survey out to 1,100 people and 205 responded.

The replies showed 68% of respondents were not happy to use four wheelie bins and 41% felt they do not have space to place all the bins ready for collection.

Some 83% were unhappy that the MK City Council is spending £6 million on new bins and 93% did not think the bins would be a good solution for the disabled, elderly, or those with medical conditions.

But, whether people like it or not, the system will begin on Monday September 4, when the city will say goodbye to Serco, who have been collecting MK waste for the past 15 years, and welcome new contractors SUEZ recycling and recovery UK.

The council has invested in 129 new state-of-the-art vehicles, including some smaller vehicles that can negotiate tighter spaces. All have 360-degree cameras on board to improve safety and record any issues, as well as electric bin lifts to cut fuel consumption and emissions. Four of the vehicles are electric and over time the fleet will become almost entirely electric.

A council spokesperson said: “MK was the first place in the UK to introduce kerbside recycling (in 1992) and is now aiming to become the country’s greenest weekly waste and recycling collection to help battle climate change.

Cllr Lauren Townsend, Cabinet member for the Public Realm, said: “This is a significant project that’s been years in the making and we’re confident it will lead to better recycling, cleaner streets, and less pests. I’d like to thank all residents for helping us make this shift to a cleaner and greener city and especially for everyone’s patience in the early days.

"As you would expect with a project of this scale, we’ll be learning and improving as we go.”

You can check when your waste collection day is here.