Corby came 402nd out of 408 councils in 2002/3's recycling league, recycling just 3.7%. Caxton, which is owned by Kier Group, now has the task of raising this to 18% by 2005.
Corby has had a poor reputation for recycling in the past. In 2001 an Audit Commission report damned the Northamptonshire council's street scene service as “poor and unlikely to improve”. The problem will be compounded by Corby's massive growth rate: new build schemes will double the population to 100,000 by 2024.
But Caxton has not yet revealed its plans to raise the rate. A council spokeswoman said future plans could include green waste collections, but she stressed the details lay with the contractor. A spokeswoman for Caxton said the company was unable to comment on its plans at present.
Corby claims a yellow box kerbside scheme for all 23,000 households introduced in April 2003 has raised recycling as high as 12%. The scheme collects glass, cans and paper. The council is also planning to bring in an education officer to encourage recycling.
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