AFTER noticing a lack of recycling facilities in Chipping Sodbury, resident Jill Brierly decided to do something about it.

It was whilst litter picking as part of of Sodbury in Bloom’s street clear-ups, that Jill made her observation.

She saw that whilst people were clearly willing to bring their bottles and cans to the rubbish bins, once they got there, none of the bins included an option for recycling.

“Often the town’s general waste bins are half filled up with cans and bottles, so it seemed clear that recycling bins would be well-used if they were available,” she said.

“Meanwhile the cans and bottles collected by the litter team had to be disposed of in the domestic recycling containers, which became unmanageable.”

Together with the Sodbury in Bloom team, Jill approached the town council and South Gloucestershire Council to see if they could do something about the situation.

Although supportive, both were unable to help.

They then turned to businesses in the area, looking for sponsorship.

After many months of searching, Waitrose and Hanson Aggregates, which runs a quarry in the town, offered to help.

Hanson agreed to sponsor the bins financially, and Waitrose agreed to house them in its car park, plus take responsibility for emptying them.

And earlier this month, two years after Jill started her campaign, the bins were officially declared open.

“We are enormously grateful to Waitrose and Hanson's for their generosity.”

Chipping Sodbury Town Trust was also keen to join the initiative.

David Shipp, chair of the Town Trust, said: “The trust always wants to maintain and improve the quality of the areas under its control and it feels the addition of recycling facilities will help this.”

Two mixed recycling bins have now also been installed on land owned by the trust, in the Millennium Garden and on the sports’ pitches.

“People will be able to dispose of their rubbish in a responsible manner and the Sodbury in Bloom litter pickers won’t have to take items home for recycling in their own containers any more,” said Jill.