Call for continued effort as recycling improves

While these figures are a move in the right direction, there is an inescapable need to do more. Britain is still the dustbin of Europe

 
Cllr Paul Bettison, LGA

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) published the recycling/composting rates for England last week, alongside figures for waste collection and disposal, also for 2006/07(see letsrecycle.com story).

The figures showed 94% of authorities recycled and composted more of their household waste than in 2005/06, while 83% collected less household waste than the previous year and 88% of disposal authorities landfilled less municipal waste.

North Kesteven district council topped the recycling/composting league with a 55% rate, while the London borough of Tower Hamlets finished last of the 393 councils and disposal authorities, with a rate of 11%.

London Government Association (LGA) and environment board chairman Cllr Paul Bettison described the results as “encouraging”, with residents and councils deserving “credit for substantially improving our performance on waste and recycling over recent years”.

But he added: “While these figures are a move in the right direction, there is an inescapable need to do more. Britain is still the dustbin of Europe, throwing more waste into landfill than any other country in the EU.”

Cllr Bettison welcomed the news that England's overall recycling rates had hit 31% for the first time (see letsrecycle.com story) but said “the fact remains other countries on the continent are still recycling up to twice as much”.

This view was backed by waste and recycling minister Joan Ruddock, who said, following the publication of the statistics last week, that many householders and local authorities were “doing a great job” with the best local authorities achieving “close to double the average”.

But she added: “Some authorities are not doing anywhere near enough. Under-performing councils must do more to help their residents reduce their rubbish and recycle more from their homes.”

London

Local authorities in the capital came under particular critism with mayor Ken Livingstone attacking London's “poor municipal waste management” and describing the capaital as “the worst performer in England”.

Of the 33 London boroughs, Newham and Lewisham joined Tower Hamlets in the bottom 10 recyclers, while the top 20 also included Southwark and the East London Waste Authority, which is the disposal authority for Barking & Dagenham, Havering, Newham and Redbridge.

Mr Livingstone also said that although figures showed an 11% drop in waste to landfill, this was because of an increase in material sent for incineration.

He continued: “These Defra figures disguise the fact that an increasing amount of London's waste is now being incinerated by certain boroughs to avoid being sent to landfill sites.”

LARAC

In the areas with the lowest performance, it is because recycling is perhaps not a top priority for the councils and residents

 
Lee Marshall, LARAC

Lee Marshall, chairman of the Local Authority Recycling Advisory Committee, said it was possible some areas underperformed because recycling was not considered a key issue. 

He explained: “In the areas with the lowest performance, it is because recycling is perhaps not a top priority for the councils and residents and we need to understand how to push recycling up the agenda.” 

Mr Marshall continued: “Too often people knock what local authorities have not done rather than congratulating them for what they have done, and every year recycling performance is improving.”

He also said that while waste arisings were slowing down, the cause and effect of this was still unknown but he suggested this could be down to factors such as limiting the size of bins.

Top of the table North Kesteven put success down to its “simple” three-bin collection system which includes a fortnightly collection of residual waste. The council collects recyclables, including glass, in a green bin, as well as green waste in a brown bin.

The district's deputy leader and executive board member for environment said: “The success of the recycling within North Kesteven is not only down to the simplicity of the system but also the co-operation of both residents and members of staff.”

He added: “Working in partnership with the private sector, in particular MidUK Recycling Ltd has also contributed and I would like to thank all those involved.”

Liberal Democrat shadow Defra secretary Chris Huhne called for more recycling powers for local authorities to improve recycling and waste minimization efforts.

The Liberal Democrats support the introduction of a scheme for collecting household waste which would see householders rewarded financially for producing less waste.

Mr Huhne said: “Councils must be empowered to improve recycling rates locally or Britain will soon run out of space for landfill.”

For more on charging schemes for household waste, see letsrecycle.com's opinion section for Joy Blizzard's views.