Residents across Wychavon are being invited to help shape future recycling services aimed at reducing waste, improving safety and making it easier to recycle everyday household items.
Wychavon District Council is seeking feedback on proposals for new ways of collecting textiles, batteries and small electrical items to help tackle the growing problem of these materials ending up in the wrong bins.
Recent fires in bin lorries have highlighted the dangers of batteries and electrical items being thrown away incorrectly.
Cllr Emma Stokes, Wychavon’s executive board member for resources, investment and innovation, said: “We know many residents want to do the right thing and recycle as much as they can, but it’s not always clear how to dispose of some everyday items safely and correctly.
“Every response will help us understand what people need and how we can continue improving recycling across Wychavon.”
Options under consideration include introducing community recycling points for batteries and small electrical items, a dedicated battery bag for households, or a kerbside clothing and textile recycling service.
Wychavon already offers an enhanced service allowing residents to leave batteries, some small electrical items and some textiles on top of their black bin on collection day.
However, few residents use the service, and all three items regularly end up in recycling bins instead.
Clothing and textiles are among the items most commonly put in recycling bins by mistake.
It means Severn Waste Services, which sorts recycling collected across Worcestershire and Herefordshire, must remove more than 200 items of clothing every week from the recycling stream.
The clothing cannot be recycled and is instead sent to the Energy from Waste plant.
Currently, batteries and small electrical items can be recycled by placing them on top of the black bin on collection day or by taking them to participating shops, supermarkets and Household Recycling Centres.
Clothing and textiles can be donated to charity shops if they are in good condition or taken to textile banks at Household Recycling Centres.
Residents can take part in the survey by visiting wychavon.gov.uk/waste-and-recycling before Sunday, August 31.