The company has published figures showing an average 78% improvement in recycling tonnages for councils which have made the switch to collecting single-stream commingled dry recyclables.
And, of the five councils cited in the figures, the company particularly highlighted the 189% improvement seen by Walsall council since moving to commingled collections.
Remarkable
Commenting on the figures, Greenstar's chief executive, Ian Wakelin, said: “There have been some remarkable gains in Britain's recycling in the last few years, but just how are councils going to lift their performance in the few months that are left this year?
Our factual evidence is impeccable and rather demolishes WRAP's position
Ian Wakelin, Greenstar
“I suggest they consider commingled collections where these are appropriate,” he said, adding that “if any council is wondering how to make a near-immediate, significant and long term leap with its recycling, the option of single stream commingling has to be very high on its agenda.”
Mr Wakelin said: “Our factual evidence is impeccable and rather demolishes WRAP's position”. He was referring to a recent WRAP statement suggesting there was little difference in the tonnages collected under kerbside sort and commingled approaches.
Data
Greenstar's data is drawn from five councils – Walsall council, Stratford-upon-Avon district council, Blackburn with Darwen borough council, South Oxfordshire district council and the London borough of Waltham Forest.
Of these, four have their collections run by the company's subsidiary Verdant, while the fifth – Walsall – sends it recyclables to the Irish-owned firms Aldridge 'super-MRF' for sorting.
Explaining just why the company had chosen these councils to support its argument, a spokesman told letsrecycle.com that: “There is nothing sinister about the fact that Greenstar used the data from four Verdant contracts.
Snapshots
“The simple reason was that the data was available and easy to get to/source,” he added, explaining that, “yes, the overall data is based on 'snapshots in time' but these are still valid, accurate and truthful”.
He pointed towards the success seen by Cheshire West and Chester council since it moved to commingled collections under a service run by Focsa (see letsrecycle.com story) as further illustrating the collection route's benefits.
And, he claimed that, “if data from other commingling councils was as easily available, then we could certainly have looked at/used it.”
Subscribe for free