Online shopping habits created need for bigger bins, says councillor

“We could all help by cutting down our online shopping and buying goods locally that don’t come with lots of packaging”

A Sheffield councillor is encouraging people to order less online, as larger cardboard bins continue to be rolled out across Sheffield.

Councillor Laura Moynahan said she regularly see piles of folded cardboard next to blue bins waiting for collection | Iconic Media & Sheffield City Council

placeholder image — Councillor Laura Moynahan said she regularly see piles of folded cardboard next to blue bins waiting for collection | Iconic Media & Sheffield City Council

Larger blue bins have started to appear on Sheffield's streets, giving residents more space to recycle paper and card.

The 240 litre blue bins replace the 140 litre ones, after Sheffield City Council was told by more than 10,000 residents that they were too small.

Manor Castle councillor Laura Moynahan said she understands the need for bigger bins, but encouraged residents to reduce their consumption as well as recycle.

She said: “I regularly see piles of folded cardboard next to the blue bins awaiting collection.

“I can see the need for larger blue bins. Consumer habits are changing. People are shopping more online; it increased during the pandemic and has continued.”

New larger blue bins are gradually replacing the smaller ones across the city | Iconic Media

Last year, Amazon alone delivered more than 1.6 billion items the same or next day in the UK.

Coun Moynahan continued: “Whilst recycling is good, paper and cardboard fibres can only be recycled about five to seven times meaning new pulp must be mixed in.

“Making new cardboard requires harvesting of trees, disrupts wildlife habitats and consumes heavy amounts of water, energy and chemicals.

“We could all help by cutting down our online shopping and buying goods locally that don’t come with lots of packaging.”

The Veolia recycling centre at Beighton | Google Maps

After blue bins are collected in Sheffield, the paper and card is taken to Veolia's ‘materials recovery facility’ in Beighton, to be sorted and graded before it is sent on to be recycled.

According to Veolia, more than 98 per cent of paper and card thrown away in blue bins will be sent to be recycled into newspapers, magazines, cardboard and packaging.

The different grades of paper and card are separated at the Beighton centre, with the paper sent to a paper mill and the cardboard is sent to a board mill.

In March this year when the bin news was announced, Councillor Joe Otten said: “More than 10,000 residents told us that their current bin simply isn’t big enough for the level of paper and card they recycle.

“The new blue bin is the same as existing black and brown bins, so it’s only a slight increase in footprint, but will provide more capacity for card and paper recycling.”