New waste and recycling service arrives

A new waste and recycling service across Ashford begins Monday 25 March. The new service will bring new technology and industry improvements, whilst retaining large parts of the existing service, which helped make Ashford one of the best recycling local authorities around.

Recent figures from Defra show that the Ashford borough has the highest recycling rate in Kent, with a recycling rate of 51%.

Fortnightly collections of general waste and recycling will continue across the borough, alongside the weekly food waste collection and the optional fortnightly garden waste collection.

The new vehicles are being funded directly by the council to help save costs. The vehicles will be more modern and use electric bin lifts. This will help reduce the consumption of diesel dramatically, helping lower the services’ carbon footprint.

As well as our waste collections service, our street cleansing service will be delivered by our new contractor SUEZ recycling and recovery UK Ltd. The new contract includes proposed improvements to the level of cleansing in rural and residential areas, as well as quicker response times on removing fly-tipping.

Cllr Kate Walder, Cabinet Member for Recreation and Public Spaces, said: “Ashford is the number one recycling borough in Kent, and one of the best at recycling in the Southeast.

“We are looking to continue this good work by working with our new, experienced contractor SUEZ. The new contract offers the chance to increase recycling rates further, have more efficient routes, lower emission vehicles and better technology to keep residents up to date on collections."

Last year Ashford was one of three Kent councils, alongside Maidstone Borough Council and Swale Borough Council, who signed the new waste and recycling contract with SUEZ, worth around £19m per year across the whole Mid Kent contract.

Cllr Steve Campkin, Cabinet Member for Climate & Environment, said: “We are retaining large parts of our existing service and many of the staff, including collection crews who will be staying the same, which I’m sure will please residents, as they are popular and extremely hard working.

“While most of the service will remain the same, from Monday 25 March collection days and weeks may change. This means every week half of the borough will have their recycling (green bin) collected, while the other half of the borough will have their general waste (grey bin) collected. These changes have been made to make a more efficient collection schedule.”

James Farquhar, Regional Manager at SUEZ, said: “We are pleased to be delivering the new waste and street care services across the borough from later this month. Our experienced teams are committed to delivering the highest standard of customer service within the local community and we look forward to working with Ashford Council alongside the wider Mid-Kent partnership as part of the new contract.”

The council is writing to residents to let them know what is happening with a guide to the new service and recycling bin sticker being sent out to everyone in the borough, followed up with a specific letter with the day changes a week later.

You can find more detailed information - including the bin collection look up tool and recycling advice on our waste webpages.