Keep Britain Tidy targets contaminated recycling in Milton Keynes

An awareness-raising campaign by environmental charity Keep Britain Tidy has seen the recycling of Milton Keynes residents get ‘marked’ as contaminated.

The move from Milton Keynes Council, which was followed up by a letter sent through residents’ doors informing them about the issue, is part of Keep Britain Tidy’s Contamination Reduction Programme to teach the public how to recycle correctly.

The Contamination Reduction Programme aims to reduce the amount of contaminated waste in waste streams by educating residents in pilot areas on what to recycle and what to leave out of their recycling bins.

The Programme is also expected to save local authorities millions of pounds per year.

As well as receiving ‘direct feedback’ in the form of marked waste sacks, residents will also have access to educational materials on how to filter through their recycling properly.

Cllr Emily Darlington, Milton Keynes Council, commented that lots of things ‘that shouldn’t be there, like dirty nappies, glass bottles, food waste, and old clothes’ end up in the recycling bins of residents, and that the issue costs the Council ‘hundreds of thousands of pounds per year’. 

"Dealing with things that cannot be recycled costs Milton Keynes Council hundreds of thousands pounds per year. That’s money that could be better spent to help local people. We are very pleased to be working with Keep Britain Tidy to help residents recycle correctly,” added Cllr Darlington.