Milton Keynes' ‘red and blue bin’ recycling has risen more than a third since the City Council rolled out wheelie bins to 119,000 households, putting MK in the top 25% of all English councils for recycling.
Last September (2023), the city council unveiled a greener and more modern waste collection service, including state of the art electric-powered waste trucks and wheelie bins for most of the city. MK’s wheelie bins have been emptied 22.5 million times by 57 frontline collection crews in the last year, and the city council estimates its waste collection vehicles have travelled more than 750,000 miles. That’s equivalent to going around the Earth 30 times.
The city council is aiming to raise recycling rates even further, which will be even better for the environment. In the meantime, any ‘black bin’ rubbish that can’t be recycled continues to be used in a green and sustainable way, generating electricity to power many of the city council’s waste collection, cleaning, and landscape maintenance vehicles.
Cabinet Member for the Public Realm, Councillor Jennifer Wilson-Marklew, said, "Since moving over to wheelie bins last year we’ve seen a huge increase in our city’s recycling rates which is a massive step forwards and I’d like to thank everyone for playing their part for the environment by recycling."
Cabinet Member for Sustainability, Councillor Shanika Mahendran, said, "We modernised the way we do things to make it easier for local people, and we’ll keep thinking about ways we can make our everyday services easier and greener. We hope to continue on this path as part of our plan to become a world-leading sustainable city."
