Maidenhead & Windsor

Easter waste is no yoke! Don't chicken out - now's the time to crack the Maidenhead recycling habit and make this an egg-cellent Easter for the borough's black recycling boxes.

And, as Maidenhead borough gardeners venture out with shears and lawnmowers, it's also a great time to start composting.

Maidenhead Cllr Simon Werner, lead member for public protection, said: "Thanks to growing support for recycling in the Royal Borough, we are making positive progress in changing the way local people deal with their household and garden waste. We want our residents to stop and think green before they throw rubbish in their wheelie bins.

"Thinking green means recycling wherever possible so we are urging residents to make this their Easter resolution. Spring is a time of new beginnings so it's the ideal time to start recycling or if you are already a recycler, to look for even more ways to do it.

"We have a real financial incentive to reduce the amount of waste we send to landfill sites. The government has increased landfill tax by £3 a tonne. This means we will pay £18 for every tonne of waste we send to landfill – more than £1million in the year ahead unless we cut the amount of rubbish we put into our wheelie bins. This is a massive burden on council tax but if all our residents become keen recyclers, we could make a real reduction in the waste bill."

How to boost Maidenhead recycling this Easter

Send packaging packing!
The council's simple instructions for Easter eggs:
1. Unwrap egg.
2. Put cardboard packaging in your black recycling box.
3. Save any foil wrappings to take to one of the borough's eight foil collection points.
4. Eat egg!

The eight bring sites with distinctive yellow foil collection containers are:

* Grange Car Park, High Street, Ascot
* Cookham Railway Station
* Shopping Parade, Wessex Way, Maidenhead
* Magnet Leisure Centre, Maidenhead
* Civic Amenity Site, Stafferton Way, Maidenhead
* Sutherland Grange, Maidenhead Road, Windsor
* Windsor Leisure Centre, Stovell Road, Windsor
* Tinkers Lane, Windsor.

Consider composting
Composting is nature's own way of waste disposal, using leaves, grass, shrub clippings and a wide range of household waste. It makes an excellent soil conditioner and mulch, which helps to make gardens grow in the future.

Composting at home couldn't be simpler these days with bins designed to help the process by retaining heat and keeping piles of material tidy in the garden.

To promote composting, the council is currently offering subsidised composting bins from as little as £9.95. Full details are in the spring edition of Around the Maidenhead Royal Borough, the council's magazine which is being distributed to all households this week, or by calling the recycling helplines. Information about composting is available on the council's website www.rbwm.gov.uk/environment_planning/wm_home_composting.htm

Alternatively, residents can:

* take green waste to the household recycling centre at Stafferton Way, Maidenhead
* arrange for green waste to be collected. This is a free appointment service which can be booked on 01628 796844.

Maidenhead Cllr Werner said: "By recycling as much as possible, all residents can play a significant part in cutting the borough's waste bill and helping the environment."

Further information about recycling is available on 01628 796156 or 796146.

The Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead