Residents in Reading will be facing a delay of more than a year before they can get their glass recycling collected outside of their homes.
Reading residents will have to wait more than a year before glass recycling is collected from kerbsides.
For decades the only option has been to use the town’s 49 bottle banks, some placed in residential areas and parks.
But bottle banks have become hotspots for fly-tipping. The former Erleigh Road site was removed after persistent fly-tipping in March 2024, and problems have also been highlighted at Kensington Park.
Other areas of England have had kerbside glass recycling for years — Somerset has collected glass from homes since 2007.
Reading Borough Council had planned to start kerbside glass recycling in April this year, but the rollout has been pushed back to April 2027 because of delays in acquiring the necessary vehicles and containers.
A council report states: The supply chain delays are a direct consequence of multiple local authorities all working towards the government’s legislative timetable.
Whilst the consequential delays are unwelcome, they allow for a joint programme of service enhancement to also include flexible plastics on our recycling rounds, required in April 2027.
This report was presented to the council’s policy committee last month.
Karen Rowland, lead councillor for environmental services, said: “Despite the fact that we are now met with a resource challenge in procuring the vehicles, which will cause us a delay that we were hoping not to run into, it is important to note that we do have the possibility of truly making lemonade out of lemons with this procurement delay.
“By coming forward for April 2027, the same time that soft film recycling is due to come forward, we will be able to bring forward both systems at the same time, which I think we can all appreciate is something that is challenging in getting messages out to residents about multiple different changes to their recycling and rubbish collection systems.
“I think this is a real opportunity to bring both forward in 2027, and I have very good faith that we will be able to successfully do so ”
The news was welcomed by opposition councillors. Cllr Anne Thompson (Liberal Democrats, Tilehurst) said: “Lib Dems have been asking for this for some time. I’m sorry that it’s going to take another year, but I appreciate that there are benefits of timing with the soft plastics recycling.”
Cllr Kate Nikulina (Green, Katesgrove) added: “This is a sensible step forward to simpler and fairer recycling, it will allow people to recycle more, especially those who have no access or can’t go to the bottle bank.”
Councillors unanimously accepted the timeline for the implementation of kerbside glass recycling on December 17, 2025.
The possibility of recycling film was raised by former council leader Jason Brock during an interview with the Local Democracy Reporting Service in May 2023.
James Aldridge, Local Democracy Reporter
