Camden council has approved plans to introduce separate collections for paper and card after an environmental audit suggested directing the material straight to reprocessors could help to reduce the carbon footprint of its commingled recycling collections.

Camden currently provides a commingled recycling collection service, in either green bags or boxes

The adoption of the ‘twin-stream' collection for its dry recyclable material was approved at a cabinetmeeting of the council last week (February 25) and is set to come into effect in April 2010.

The decision follows an environmental audit undertaken by the council in July 2008, which claimed that the separation of fibres from other dry recyclables would help improve the carbon efficiency of the local authority's commingled collections (see letsrecycle.com story).

The report concluded that it would be better to send paper and card directly to reprocessors instead of incurring energy costs in transport and putting through Veolia's MRF at Greenwich, and claimed that the change represented "an obvious option" to help reduce carbon emissions.

Councillor Chris Knight, executive member for environment, said: "We are absolutely committed to tackling climate change and improving the environment for future generations. Getting the right solution for our recycling service means we can target our resources where they will have the most impact in meeting this important aim."

The council currently collects commingled paper, glass, cans, cardboard and plastic bottles from 65,000 households through a green bag or box system.

Other changes under the approved plans are to include: twice weekly domestic refuse collection; weekly borough-wide doorstep food/green waste collection; individual colour glass collections from recycling bring sites; weekly borough-wide communal food waste/green waste collections from housing estates and mansion blocks; and more school recycling.

Cllr Keith Moffitt, leader of Camden Council, said: "Our recycling audit gave us a detailed picture of how we could improve our service and we are committed to taking up that challenge where we can. Our residents are recycling more of their waste than ever and it's down to us to provide the service they deserve - such as improving the quality of recyclables by separating out paper and cardboard."

The new collection system will be introduced by Camden's waste and recycling collection contractor, Veolia Environmental Services, which received a seven-year, £140 million extension to its existing service contract in January 2009 (see letsrecycle.com story).

The move follows increasing support for twin stream collections as a middle ground between source-separated collections and commingled services (see letsrecycle.com story).