Bradshaw defends green waste services and praises councils

Speaking exclusively to letsrecycle.com, Mr Bradshaw said: “These figures are very important and I am quietly confident that we will meet the 25% target for 2005/06.”

Green waste collections and the impact this is having on recycling rates is recognised by Mr Bradshaw as a thorny issue. He said: “It is true that different materials are variably attractive to local authorities because of their market value and because of their weight. But, it would be wrong to say that what has been achieved has been solely achieved because of green waste services. Some urban areas are reaching high figures and they have low volumes of green waste.”

Looking ahead, Mr Bradshaw confirmed that a consultation on an updated waste strategy will be published by his department this autumn. Alongside this there will be a separate consultation on future statutory recycling targets which will also look at the question of green waste. Mr Bradshaw emphasised that recycling targets were stated for future years within the 2000 waste strategy.

Plastics
The minister said that plastics remained a difficult material for local authorities but he said that more councils were moving to collect the material, highlighting the inclusion by Hillingdon London Borough of plastics in its recycling collections.

Despite concerns within the waste management sector about the possibility of missing landfill reduction targets for 2010, Mr Bradshaw said he was also confident of meeting these figures. He pointed to changes in the planning regulations through policy document PPS10 which should help improve the process of securing permissions for new facilities.

WRAP
Also speaking at the launch of the recycling figures this morning, Jennie Price, chief executive of WRAP, said the organisation had helped councils achieve the figures in two main ways.

“First, the Recycle Now campaign is working. The message is reaching the public that we don't just have to like recycling but we actually have to do it. Second, we are helping local authorities to design good recycling systems which the public can operate easily and which they are told about in good quality communications.”

Mrs Price also suggested that local authorities who have decided to adopt fortnightly collections of recyclables would do well to look at the experience of the London Borough of Hillingdon. “It is interesting that Hillingdon had found that by changing its recyclables collection from fortnightly to weeekly it has boosted collections significantly. I think we may well see more of that.”

Hillingdon's recycling officer, Duncan Jones, said he was very pleased that the borough's recycling rate had now reached about 27% which put the council in third place in London, behind Bexley and Sutton.