South Manchester’s Lib Dem Councillors and MP John Leech are calling on Manchester City Council to improve their doorstep recycling collection services, to increase the amount of waste recycled in the process.

Burnage Councillors Iain Donaldson and John Cameron have written to the Council to ask that plastics and cardboard be added to the materials that are collected from the doorstep for recycling.

Didsbury West Councillor Neil Trafford is calling for blocks of flats and apartments, most of which currently have no recycling facilities, to be given recycling bins for the residents to use, which could be emptied regularly.

Meanwhile, local MP John Leech has welcomed the City Council’s decision to introduce a recycling scheme for bulky waste, such as furniture, after calling for such a scheme for years.

Councillor Iain Donaldson said:

“Plastic and cardboard make up a large proportion of household waste. It would be a popular move to collect these materials for recycling. The City Council have told us that there are technical reasons preventing them from collecting plastic and cardboard for recycling. However, we do not accept this excuse. Some other Councils do it - so why not Manchester? We have asked the Council to ask these other Councils how they overcome the ‘technical difficulties’.”

Councillor Neil Trafford, commenting on Lib Dem calls for recycling for flats, said:

“It is crazy that if you live in a house the Council will collect recyclable material for you, but not if you live in a flat or apartment. We are calling on the Council to introduce recycling bins for residents of flats. Doing so would also reduce the amount of household waste that the Council has to pay to dump in landfill sites.”

The City Council is trialling a scheme to recycle bulky waste collected from homes in the Chorlton and Didsbury areas.

John Leech MP has welcomed this:

“For years I have been telling the Council that instead of simply dumping all the bulky rubbish collected on Clean Ups of the area, they should recycle it. I am glad that at last they have brought in scheme to recycle bulky items, for example by reconditioning furniture for charities. However, they should extend this scheme to the whole City, not just a part of it.”