WOKINGHAM waste chiefs have no plans to introduce glass collection across the borough, despite suggestions Berkshire authorities were looking into the move.

Last week, our sister paper The Reading Chronicle reported Reading Borough Council’s Sophia James had claimed: “Alongside our re3 partners at Bracknell Forest and Wokingham Borough Councils (WBC), I can confirm we are beginning the process of investigating the feasibility of a glass collection service.”

She continued: “The investigations will initially be reported to the re3 board, later in 2020, and thereafter considered within each council.”

The News asked WBC leader Cllr John Halsall if this was something the authority would be offering residents.

He said: “There is no plan to currently do so.

“We are always looking at it but would only do so after a consultation with our residents, because there is a downside and the downside is noise.

“On the other hand, we are happy to put glass collection points anywhere where anybody can give us a site where it makes sense.”

Just 12 per cent of local authorities do not collect glass, according to research by charity Waste & Resources Action Programme.

Bracknell Forest Council, also part of the re3 recycling intiative with Wokingham and Reading, also distanced itself from bringing in glass collections following Sophia James’ comments.

Environment boss Cllr Dorothy Hayes said: “In order to collect glass at the kerbside we would need to provide an additional container for mixed glass.

"This would also require the purchase of additional waste collection vehicles.

“Following the executive’s decision on Tuesday (28 January) to launch a food waste collection scheme in October, we are focusing on rolling out that new recycling service this year to significantly boost our recycling rate.”

Despite this, Cllr John Halsall said re3 bosses were being instructed to work out how the three authorities can increase recycling rates.

He added: “We need to have a point on the horizon where we are as near to 100 per cent recycling as we could possibly get and as near to 0 per cent landfill as we could possibly get.

“I’ve asked re3 to plot a point on the horizon so we are setting our sails in that direction.”