Environmentally conscious residents in the Forest of Dean could miss out on recycling more at the kerbside after the Green administration at the District Council appeared to backtrack on expanding the scheme warn Conservative councillors

The proposal to recycle more types of plastic at the kerbside has long been championed by many councillors, including Conservative Nick Evans (Con: Tidenham), and would have seen yogurt pots, ready meal trays and fruit tubs added to the list of items collected by council recycling teams.

Cabinet members and council officers have previously said that the expansion was dependent on new recycling lorries being bought for the district and the transition to a new provider of the service, but when the purchase of new lorries was discussed at a Council meeting on February 20, Cabinet Member Andy Moore refused to confirm that this would mean expanding plastic recycling, calling the whole scheme into question.

Cllr Evans said: “Increasing recycling has widespread support and is a simple step we can take to reduce our carbon footprint and protect the environment. Recycling plastic pots tubs and trays at the kerbside is an open goal for the Forest of Dean, so I was shocked when the Green Party cabinet member refused to confirm these new trucks would bring in the promised expansion of the scheme.

“You have to make recycling easy for people to encourage them to do it, I had been assured that this would be the case when the new lorries were purchased. Now a cabinet that usually prides itself on its latest environmental scheme seems content to be sending these plastics for incineration, rather than doing everything it can to help Forest families recycle more. I just don’t understand it.

“For years we have been promised this is on the horizon, and with the recycling depot now in the council’s ownership, and new recycling lorries on the way, they have the opportunity to take this next step, and if that means giving us another bin or bag, I'm sure the benefits would outweigh any initial cost. The Greens in cabinet really need to U-turn on this decision, and back my plan for more recycling in the district.”

Cllr Evans, other councillors and members of the public have previously asked questions at the Forest of Dean District Council’s full council meeting and during meetings of the strategic oversight and scrutiny committee about an expansion of recycling to include plastic pots, tubs and trays.

“Council officers, Cllr Andy Moore and Cllr Sid Phelps (as the relevant cabinet members at the time) have all stated that the reasons that these items were not recycled was because of capacity at the recycling depot, waiting for the transition to the new service provider and on the existing fleet of recycling lorries. These issues have all been addressed,” said Cllr Evans

The council currently collects plastic bottles but is not able to collect and recycle, plastic pots, tubs, punnets and trays , cat food pouches, cartons (such as Tetra Pak), plastic film and plastic bags