Paper banks to be removed over lack of waste

A waste company said it is removing its paper recycling bins because people are using less paper.

M W White has provided paper banks across Norfolk for the past 25 years, but said it is only seeing about £300 worth of material collected each day, which is not sustainable for the business.

The company has about 200 paper banks installed across the county, and while it has removed some of them, it plans to take the others away in the next four months.

Managing director Paul White said: "It is just unsustainable at this moment of time to continue with the losses on the banks as we have been incurring."

He said the vehicle the company uses to collect the waste can cost up to £600 to run per day.

Contaminated material also increases costs for the company.

Mr White added: "We get a lot of people who think because it's a paper bank they can put their mixed recycling in there. So we get some with paper, cans and plastic bottles in there, which all has to be sorted out."

Some of the busier sites are near second-hand book shops and at places such as Blickling Hall, near Aylsham.

Whereas at villages such as Trunch and Ludham the paper banks are used less.

"Some [people] are very disappointed. I think it's possibly 50:50. Some were disappointed, and others were expecting them to be taken out anyway because they weren't being used," Mr White said.

"Newspapers seem to be a dying breed at this moment in time. There just isn't the volume of newspaper out there to sustain running a scheme like we were running... it's now run it's course."

When the company first started it would collect up to 300 tonnes of paper a week, however, now, it only gets up to 30 tonnes.

Mr White added: "People do abuse it. When people see a paper bank there, people will leave other stuff beside the bank... some [banks] have already been taken out."

The company said it will work with charities who have relied on the service.

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