In his latest regular column, the chairman of Maldon District Council, Councillor Mark Heard, discusses recycling in the district and advises on what to do if your waste has not been collected.

Maldon District Council takes pride in its environment and has proved to be a well-performing district in terms of recycling and the amount of waste sent to landfill, especially compared with other areas.

The council continually strives to become more sustainable, less reliant on landfill and to improve our performance even further. Thanks to the dedication of residents, our district has achieved a recycling rate of 58.17 per cent.

Have you ever wondered where your recycling goes? Let's look at the kerbside collections.

Paper and card that you recycle in your pink sack goes to Essex Reclamation in Witham. It is separated and baled ready to be exported, where it is then processed and pulped ready for recycling into writing paper, tissue and new packaging. Large cardboard boxes should be flattened and folded and left by the side of your pink recycling sacks. Smaller cardboard boxes and packaging should be broken into smaller manageable pieces and placed inside a pink recycling sack. Please remember to tie your sack when it is full.

Tins and cans that you recycle in your pink sack are separated at Essex Reclamation into steel and aluminium. The steel is sent to a company called EMR and the aluminium is sent to Novelis, both in the UK, to be recycled to make new tins and cans.

Glass from your blue box is taken to Essex Reclamation where it is transported to a Suez depot in the UK and sent for onward recycling into new bottles and jars.

Plastic materials that you recycle in your pink sack are also taken to Essex Reclamation where they are separated and sent to processors in the UK for onward recycling into new plastic bottles or recycled plastic items.

The food waste that you recycle in your green caddy is transported to a local anaerobic digestion facility where it is broken down and converted into energy known as Biogas.

Green garden waste is collected by Suez. It is composted to the right standard (PAS100) at a local site in Tolleshunt Major which is operated by B G Appleton Contracts. The compost is sold to local businesses for landscaping.

The national driver shortage and the repercussions of Covid-19 have caused some missed collections, but we do ask you to assist us please by taking it back in and re-presenting it on your next scheduled collection day.

We are only able to return to collect missed refuse so if your refuse has not been collected and no issues have been reported by our crews, please report it at https://maldon.suez.co.uk/maldon.

If your bin is not full and you do have sufficient room to wait until your next collection it would be greatly appreciated.

I thank you for your cooperation and patience at this difficult time.

Councillor Mark S. Heard