Mr Bradshaw was speaking at today's launch of the Big Recycle – the UK's 'national recycling week' – while visiting the Greenford recycling centre in the London borough of Ealing.
 Ben Bradshaw (center) finds out about ECT Recycling's work in Barnet from MD Andy Bond (left) and CEO Stephen Sears (right) |
The minister for local environmental quality said he was “hopeful” that England would meet its national target to recycle 25% of household waste by the end of this year, saying it was important to meet such a target.
While visiting the Greenford site, Mr Bradshaw found out about the compulsory recycling scheme run in the nearby borough of Barnet with the heads of the contractor involved, ECT Recycling.
Afterwards, Mr Bradshaw told letsrecycle.com: “I think the carrot approach is working well – councils are making it easier for people to recycle their waste, getting the figures up by encouraging the public. But, we are watching the Barnet affair very closely, and I certainly don't rule out using such sticks in the future if we are not meeting our targets.”
In the past, Defra has been reluctant to come out in favour of measures that will in any way punish householders for not recycling, preferring an incentive approach to reward them for their efforts if they do recycle. A 5 million trial on incentives is being held in the autumn to look into best practice in this area (see letsrecycle.com story).
Barnet
However, the Barnet system does not explicitly require householders to recycle any set amount of waste – it only threatens those “persistently and deliberately” failing to recycle their waste (see letsrecycle.com story).
This compulsory system has been borough-wide since the start of this year, although only for residents offered kerbside recycling collections – residents in flats are not compelled to recycle their waste.
Stephen Sears, who as well as being a councillor in Ealing is chief executive of ECT Recycling, the contractor providing recycling collections for Barnet's compulsory system, said the Barnet scheme is going well.
Martyrs
He said: “Obviously there are a few martyrs – five people in Barnet are being threatened with prosecution – but most people want to recycle, and want their neighbours to recycle in Barnet.”
Cllr Sears said it was important in such a scheme to be as supportive as possible for the residents, explaining that council “recycling inspectors” are not there to “catch people out”, but to provide advice on recycling.
Barnet has targets to recycle 30% of its waste by the end of this financial year, and with trial areas of the compulsory scheme posting a 25% increase in recycling in the first six months, ECT Recycling managing director Andy Bond said he was confident of reaching the required level.
Mr Bond said other councils are considering following the Barnet approach, explainind that “given the success, it's really a no-brainer. This compulsory system has had a big impact in not just Barnet, but neighbouring boroughs as well – householders there seem to think it's compulsory for them, too.”
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Targets
Councils throughout the country are still waiting to find out if the government will set further recycling targets beyond those set for 2005/06. While waste disposal authorities have landfill diversion targets for biodegradable waste stretching all the way up to 2020 under the Landfill Allowance Trading Scheme, collection authorities have no statutory targets beyond this year.
Commenting on the situation, Mr Bradshaw said: “Targets are being looked at – just because there are no recycling targets beyond this year, doesn't mean there won't be in the future.”
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