CRAVEN is set to end the collection of waste paper in bags after councillors agreed to the 'co-mingling' of newspapers, glass and tins.

From April, the collection of recycled waste is likely to take place every fortnight with paper, cans and plastic being collected in the one, blue bin.

Plans to do away with two separate collections of recycled waste were approved last year, subject to a favourable Technical, Economical, Environmental Practice (TEEP) assessment.

Cllr Carl Lis (Cons) told Craven District Council's Policy Committee that 99 per cent of residents who responded to a consultation had been positive about the changes, which would save the council in the region of £110,000.

Those who did object were concerned about the capacity of the bins to take the extra waste, but that would be sorted with fortnightly collections, said Cllr Lis.

Cllr Simon Myers (Cons) welcomed the change as a saving of money and also because it would reduce harm to the environment by cutting down the use of waste vehicles.

After the meeting, Paul Ellis, the council's director of services, said: “The value the council receives for the sale of the recycling material it collects has fallen significantly and this prompted the council to review its current collection arrangements. We have also listened to residents who told us the blue bags are unpopular.

“We held a consultation on the proposals to move to a full co-mingled collection, and the vast majority of those responding had no objections to the introduction of a co-mingled collection service.

“We also carried out technical, environmental and economic assessments and found that a co-mingled system will be better economically and environmentally.

“The new system means the collection methodology will be simplified, and removes the need for us to distribute and collect blue bags.

“The government has set a target that all local authorities are to achieve 50 per cent recycling by 2020. This new methodology will help us to reach this target. We believe the easier arrangements will lead to an increase in recycling.”

Residual household waste will still be collected fortnightly in the green wheeled bin, on alternate weeks to the recycling collection.

It is projected that revenue savings of £110,000 per year will be generated by adopting the new system.

Leaflets will be sent out to all households informing them of the changes to the recycling arrangements, along with public notices, press releases, social media, bin stickers and messages on the council website.

If approved by full council on January 31, all recycling items will be collected together in the blue bin from April.