The council has been praised by glass recycling company O-I, which is to reprocess the collected material, for opting for collecting the glass colours separately.
 Households in Dacorum, Hertfordshire, are being asked to recycle their glass |
O-I, formerly the British Glass Recycling Company, said Dacorum's decision was “illustrating its commitment to maximising the environmental benefits of its recycling operations and offering best value to residents”.
The new Dacorum service bucks the national trend for local authorities to collect more and more waste glass mixed from households.
Introducing mixed glass recycling collections is seen as an easier option by some local authorities, but can mean they are offered half the price for their glass as reprocessors offer where colours are collected separately. This is because of the huge investment needed on the part of the reprocessors to separate out the glass colours for recycling.
“Sustainable”
Jim Powell, recycling development manager for O-I, said: “There is pressure on councils simply to raise tonnages regardless of the marketability of material collected. This great move from Dacorum recognises that recycling is about creating a sustainable future, not just about short term collection targets. In this, they are following the best practice set by councils like Richmond and Barnet.”
Glass collected from the Dacorum scheme will be taken to O-I's glass-making plant in Harlow, Essex.
“The combination of keeping glass colour-separated and demonstrating how this is used locally to make new bottles and jars is by far the best way to generate strong residential participation in the scheme,” Mr Powell said.
Dacorum borough council achieved a 28% recycling rate for household waste collected in 2004/05, and has since increased its recycling rate to over 40%. The borough council runs an alternate weekly collection service for its 57,000 rural and urban households.
The new glass recycling service is being publicised by collection staff hanging bottle-shaped leaflets (pictured above right) on residents' wheeled bins.
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Councillor Herbert Chapman, portfolio holder for environmental services at Dacorum borough council, said, “Glass is one of the few materials that offer cradle to cradle opportunities and we are determined to make the best use of the glass our residents recycle.
“We currently separate all our materials at the kerbside, so adding three colours of glass is much more responsible than collecting it mixed,” Cllr Chapman added.
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