Communal bins set outside homes across Liverpool are in line for a major upgrade in a bid to improve their appearance, boost recycling and help tackle fly-tipping in neighbourhoods. Members of the city council’s cabinet are to approve contractors who will provide permanent housing units for the existing communal bins.
There are currently 850 collection stations across the city, providing bins for households with limited alleyway space around or behind their properties. They were first introduced between 2018 and 2022 in response to concerns raised by residents around the storage of household waste within their alleyways.
New housing for bins and recycling improvements
Work is being carried out to provide dedicated, durable housing for the existing bins, creating a cleaner, more attractive and integrated look. Other councils across the country have introduced similar units, such as Glasgow.
The new housing will also include messaging for residents to help them identify which items belong in each bin, as well as how to get support with other waste issues such as bulky waste collections. Through new guidelines, it is hoped that the dedicated units will help to reduce fly-tipping in communal bin areas.
Expansion of food waste collections
Existing communal bins throughout the city offer both dry recycling and household waste facilities, but this offer is also set to be extended in the future to include a new food waste collection bin. Since September last year, the council has been rolling out weekly food waste collections in keeping with changes to legislation.
These new collections take leftover food out of the purple bin and into a specially designed caddy before it gets taken away on a weekly basis to be recycled. Households will be contacted with instructions on how to use the new food waste bin ahead of its rollout in their area.
City council officers have already been visiting properties receiving the new food waste collections to help residents adapt to the changes. They will also be out in the community engaging with households that use communal bins before the service is introduced.
Cllr Laura Robertson-Collins, cabinet member for communities, neighbourhoods and streetscene, said: “Communal bins provide an important service for thousands of households across Liverpool, and these upgrades will make them more durable, easier to use and better integrated into our neighbourhoods.
“These upgraded communal bin stations will provide a better experience for the people who use them every day, while also helping us expand food waste collections to more households across the city.”
