GLASS could soon be disposed of in blue bins as part of a drive to increase recycling, the East Anglian Daily Times can reveal.

Waste bosses hope that by further simplifying the recycling process less waste will find its way to landfill.

The move would set Suffolk apart from many other counties in the UK who use different kerb-side bins for different materials. Some councils have as many eight or nine different bins to use for different materials.

Peter Stevens, chairman of the Suffolk Waste Partnership - a strategic partnership of the county, district and borough councils that work to improve waste management services - said he believed more glass would be recycled if it did not need to be transported to bottle banks.

He said: “Well the message is we want to keep the collection of recycling as simple as possible to our residents so that we can achieve the maximum quality of recyclate, so it can be sold on after it has been sorted.

“That really is our aim. We want as much as possible in the blue bin without any additional kerb-side containers.”

Mr Stevens said he hopes that glass could be introduced into the bins over the next two years during negotiations with Viridor who currently sort recyclate at the MRF on Masons’ Landfill Site, Great Blakenham.

He added: “I believe we would probably collect more glass if we could recycle through the blue bins.”

The move comes as new figures reveal a slight drop in the tonnage of waste delivered to the MRF.

Malcolm Firth, chairman of Suffolk Recycling Consortium, six waste collection authorities working to provide dry recycling materials to the MRF, said the reduction could be due to the economy or eco-friendly packaging.

The total amount of recyclate received by the MRF in 2013/12 was 44,668 tonnes compared to 45,027 in 2012/11 and 46,108 in 2011/2010. Mr Firth said: “We have been predicting lower figures for a number of years, but we have not seen an overall decline in recyclate until last year. However, overall waste arising has been declining, so the proportion of recyclate has been fairly steady.”

Mr Stevens said he believed people were reducing waste where possible. He added: “If they have a choice and people are suitably informed they will make every effort to reduce the amount of waste they produce and lessen the need for recycling and lessen the need for waste going to landfill.”