Coun Paul Cox

Cabinet member for environmental services

THIS summer will see a big change to our recycling system, as we replace the current sacks and box recycling with two new wheeled bins.

We’ll all be able to recycle much more easily and our streets will be cleaner too, as rubbish that sometimes blows out of the sacks and boxes on windy collection days will be contained within the wheeled bins.

The new system means that you will only have to split your recycling between the two wheeled bins.

The brown bin will be for paper, cardboard and waxed cartons and the blue bin will be for glass, cans and plastics.

Another big plus of the new scheme is that we’ll be collecting recycling from the same place you normally present your grey bin, which for the majority of terrace properties will be from the back street, this means no more carrying boxes and bags through the house.

Providing the bins and the vehicles to empty them is a big investment for the council which we hope will help drive up our recycling rate, as recycling not only diverts waste from landfill, but also reduces the cost of waste disposal and so helps keep Council Tax down.

We need your help with this though, as a good recycling rate depends on the right material being put into the bins, also contaminated bins can lead to the whole waggon load being rejected, at a substantial cost.

So please help us keep down costs and ultimately your Council Tax, by only putting the items listed on your information leaflet into the bins.

Other good news is that after taking significant strides to drive up improvements in food hygiene performance across the Borough, we’ve seen a massive improvement in the food hygiene scores of Hyndburn businesses.

Latest figures at the end of May show that 92 per cent of our food businesses are now compliant with the Food Standards Agency Food Hygiene Ratings Scheme, with 84 per cent of businesses achieving a 4 or 5 food hygiene rating.

Last year our Food and Safety team ran a successful series of free Food Safety and Allergen workshops targeting non-compliant premises.

These workshops were attended by 88 businesses and we’ve also carried out 30 one to one coaching sessions.

Whilst we’re happy to see a big improvement to 92 per cent compliance, we will carry on the hard work to drive this figure up even higher and our Food and Safety team will continue with revisits to work with the remaining eight per cent of businesses to achieve compliance.

Where businesses continually fail to meet the required standard, we will use enforcement options to ensure food safety across the Borough.

Last year we took action against non- compliant premises which resulted in five voluntary closures, 21 Food Hygiene Improvement Notices and issued 301 written warnings.

Another great outcome is that the team has for the last two years completed 100 per cent of inspections required, and since the start of this year 54 food outlets in Hyndburn have gained the highest food hygiene rating of five.

This brings to the total number of five rated food businesses to 395.

And finally let’s hope that the recent warm weather we all enjoyed in May carries on all summer long!