Reading council's lack of kerbside glass recycling explained

Councils across the South have the collections, where residents sort their glass into recycling boxes or bags and put them outside their homes for bin crews to collect.

Examples of areas that have kerbside glass collections include Hampshire County Council, Wiltshire Council and Somerset County Council.

But Reading Borough does not.

READ MORE: How Reading's new free bulky waste collection service will work

The contrast is particularly stark in Overdown Road, on the borough boundary.

While the eastern half of the road is in Reading Borough, the western half is controlled by West Berkshire Council, which has had kerbside glass recycling collections for over 10 years.

That means people on the western side can put out there glass on the side of the road and expect it to be collected.

Bins in Mendip, which has kerbside glass recycling collections as part of the Somerset Waste Partnership. Credit: James Aldridge, Local Democracy Reporting Service

Addressing the issue, a council spokesperson said that Reading Brough Council does intend to run a kerbside glass recycling collection service once new Government legislation is passed.

The spokesperson explained: “Reading Borough Council remains committed to  preparing a service development programme for kerbside glass collection once the Government releases the Environment Bill’s secondary legislation, which will provide the much needed detail over the strategic issues such as the scale, and funding for provision, of such a service.

“Until that information is provided, the Council will continue to provide recycling banks at strategic locations across the Borough to enable residents to still be readily able to recycle glass in Reading.”

Re3 has recently introduced mixed glass bottle banks, allowing glass of any colour to be put in them, rather than the segregated clear, brown and green glass bins in place previously.

There are dozens of glass recycling banks in Reading. The nearest bottle bank to you can be found using the re3cyclopedia website here.

READ MORE: Concerns raised over flytipping at Reading bottle banks

The legislation the spokesperson referred to, the Environment Bill, became the Environment Act in November 2021.

However, it is understood that details relating to waste management policies that are part of the Act have not been fully fleshed out yet, and the council will need to wait for guidance laid out in secondary legislation.

Specifically, the council is waiting for information on how the kerbside glass collections will be funded going into the future.

READ MORE: How much new bulky waste collection service will cost the council  

Wokingham Borough Council and Bracknell Forest Council do not have kerbside glass recycling collections either.

In West Berkshire, recycling is collected every fortnight.

Residents are provided with two green recycling boxes and a reusable bag.

One of the recycling boxes is used for paper and cardboard, with the other being used for glass bottles and jars.

The reusable bag is used for plastic bottles with lids removed, aerosols, drink cans and food tins.