More than 50,000 homes in North Shropshire, South Shropshire, Bridgnorth and Oswestry until late September, with an army of doorsteppers receiving their final training last week.
” We hope to encourage people to recycle more of the right stuff more often. “
– Joy Blizzard, Shropshire CC
Residents will be provided with information about the materials that can be recycled in their area, and where their nearest collection points are located if kerbside schemes are not available.
Householders will also have the chance to have their questions about recycling answered.
Shropshire said earlier this month it was confident of meeting its landfill diversion target in 2010, but that this was crucially dependant on its residents increasing their recycling efforts.
Joy Blizzard, waste initiatives officer with Shropshire county council, said: “By visiting people to talk to them about their local recycling services and to offer advice about how, what and why to recycle – we hope to encourage people to recycle more of the right stuff more often.”
Landfill
Thanks to kerbside and bring bank recycling systems, the county has already reduced the amount of biodegradable waste it sends to landfill from 89,249 tonnes in 2003/04 to 77,173 tonnes in 2005/06.
Under the government's Landfill Allowance Trading Scheme, assuming no extra landfill allowances are purchased, Shropshire must reduce annual biodegradable landfill tonnages to 67,395 tonnes by 2010, 44,890 tonnes by 2013 and just 31,411 tonnes by 2020.
The door stepping project has been backed by 60,000 in government funding and is being run by environmental consultancy Eco Group. The company has been recruiting local people with an interest in recycling to carry out the work.
Positive
A similar project held last year led to residents recycling more and resulted in a more positive attitude to recycling, the Partnership said. “We hope that this will have a similar effect,” added Ms Blizzard.
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Along with higher recycling rates, Shropshire is also aiming to build a treatment facility for residual waste. The plant is expected to be built in several years' time and will be used to meet 2013 and 2020 targets.
Waste companies Veolia and Biffa are vying for a long-term waste management contract which will include development of the residual plant. The two companies have returned bids and a decision on a preferred bidder is now expected to be made in November.
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