Road shows mark run-up to orange bag launch in Leicester

A series of road shows to help people find out more about major changes to the way the city's recycling is collected will begin on Monday 5 September, six weeks before the roll-out of the new orange bag service.

Staff from Leicester City Council's waste management team will be in Humberstone Gate from 9am until 4pm. They will be providing information and answering questions about the citywide move from the current green box scheme to the new orange bag recycling service that starts in October 2011.

The bags can be used to collect a wider range of household waste, including cardboard, mixed plastics, cans and tins, glass, and other food packaging such as tin foil, plastic film and styrofoam.

There will be no limits on the number of orange bags that people can use and these will continue to be collected weekly, on the same day as current bin collections.

Cllr Sarah Russell, assistant city mayor responsible for neighbourhood services, will join staff on the information stall at lunchtime to answer questions.

She said: "The new orange bag service is all about making it easier for people to recycle more and we want to do whatever we can to ensure people are clear about the changes we're introducing.

"I know from the recent 'Meet the Mayor' events that people are very supportive of our aims to improve recycling rates in the city and have got lots of questions about how the new orange bag service will work.

That's why we've decided to get out and about across the city to help people find out more about the new scheme before it launches in October."

The new orange bag recycling service is being introduced following a successful six-month trial that ran in four areas of the city. Figures from that trial show that the new service could help increase the city's recycling and composting rate from 40 per cent to closer to 50 per cent.

An information pack giving full details about how the new service will work will be delivered with the first roll of orange bags to all households during the first two weeks in October. The first collections of orange bags are due to begin from week commencing Monday 17 October.