IT WAS a recycling goal that the borough’s environment chief has been struggling to secure – but soon residents in Basingstoke and Deane will be able to recycle Tetra Pak packaging.

Councillor Robert Donnell, cabinet member for environment and climate change, made the announcement at a full council meeting on February 27.

The new scheme is set to be rolled out at 10 designated sites, which are yet to be confirmed, from April 1. Residents will be able to take their Tetra Pak packaging, which includes milk and juice cartons, to the bring-bank sites across the borough.

As part of the £6,000 scheme, hard plastic items will be able to be recycled at the same sites. This means that items including yoghurt pots, margarine containers and food trays can all be recycled.

Cllr Donnell told The Gazette: “The list of what can be recycled is getting bigger and bigger.

“When we introduced the glass kerbside service, we realised that as more people recycle glass, the glass recycling figure has gone up. What happened because of that is the reduction in glass recycling in glass banks.

“That frees up a lot of sites which have been used for glass recycling and some of these have been replaced by electrical item bins. We will replace some of the glass ones with Tetra Pak and hard plastic recycling slots.”

Cllr Donnell added: “It is something we have wanted to do for a while and it is one of the things people have wanted to recycle in Basingstoke.

“It would have been wrong to produce it earlier because the material would have had to have been taken to Scandinavia.

“We started to look at ways of getting there and we have tried partnering with councils and looking at different companies and so many other ways.

“It is now the responsibility of residents, and they need to start recycling and taking it to the right place.”