Increased recycling in Lambeth after HWRC change

However, the London borough has stepped up communications efforts to tackle fly-tipping following a spike in incidents in the week after the Vale Street household waste and recycling centre closed its doors to residual waste at the start of April 2009 (see letsrecycle.com story).

In a briefing document published in July but made available to letsrecycle.com this week, Lambeth revealed that the quantity of recyclable material collected at the site rose from a monthly average of 109 tonnes (January-March 2009) to 212 tonnes (April-May 2009).

Much of the increase was attributed to introduction of mixed wood skips. Mixed wood would have previously gone to landfill but the council said the skips were diverting around 60 tonnes of material each month.

The council also claimed that the changes to the site, which included expanding the range of materials collected at the site to 33, was likely to add 1% to Lambeth's national indicator for the percentage of waste sent to reuse, recycling and composting (NI192).

Vale Street had been one of the poorest performing household waste and recycling centres in London, with the council claiming its 19.84% recycling rate was the lowest of all 41 sites in London. The council opted to address the issue by banning residual waste in an attempt to curb abuse by local traders.

Fly-tipping

As a result of the changes at the Vale Street site, the council explained that there had initially been an increase in incidents of fly-tipping in the surrounding South London area after April 1.

Fly-tipping incidents reported in Norwood rose from 29 on March 29 2009 to 35 on April 4 2009 – the week of the change. However, despite an unexplained rise at the end of April, incidents had fallen to a low of just eight by May 17.

The council said the site was “no longer a magnet for traders” and that, despite the heightened number of incidents following the change, there was evidence of fly-tipping “quickly subsiding”.

Estates

Looking at the estates in isolation, the document did show that there had been a gradual increase in fly-tipping since December 2008 but it had decreased between April and May 2009.

The briefing said: “It is clear that the levels of waste collected have been increasing for some time but have actually decreased during April and May.

“This decrease may be a short-term blip, but it does prove that the increased fly tipping on Norwood estates has nothing to do with the changes at the Lambeth reuse and recycling centre.”

Despite insisting that there was no link between the closure of the site to residual waste and the growth of fly-tipping over time, the council said it was “sensitive to allegations” that the change had led to a “huge increase in fly-tipping”.

And, it said it would be stepping up communications efforts to ensure residents were aware of bulky waste collection services and small traders knew where commercial waste services were located within the borough.