East Hampshire district council reaches 30% recycling rate

Part of the successful waste partnership in Hampshire, Project Integra, the council has announced that it recycled 30.6% of its waste during March 2003.

This is double its 2001-02 rate of 15%, and puts the council well ahead of the 24% target for 2005 set by the government.

The council currently collects paper, cardboard, plastics, steel and aluminium cans from residents' doorsteps every alternate week from black wheeled bins. This is then processed by Onyx-owned Hampshire Waste Services at its materials recycling facility in Portsmouth.

Non-recyclable refuse is also collected once a fortnight from green wheeled bins, to encourage waste minimisation and recycling.

Commenting on the announcement, councillor Patrick Burridge, environment portfolio holder at East Hampshire, said: “The figures show that the introduction of alternate weekly collections has been really worthwhile, and prove that we can all work together to reduce the amount of waste going to landfill.

On course
Mr Burridge, who is also vice chairman of Project Integra, added: “If we can maintain and increase this high rate, we are on course to recycle around 40% of our waste by 2006.”

Glass is only recycled through recycling centres and bring banks, although a relationship between Project Integra and Midland Glass (see letsrecycle.com story)
could see kerbside collections introduced in the future.

Residents who are unable to compost at home can ask to join a garden waste collection scheme, with green waste collected in reusable woven sacks at the same time as recyclables are collected. There is a subsidised charge of 12 a year for this service.

Authorities in Project Integra have been so successful at collecting recyclables – the average recycling rate for the partnership is 21.4% – that the only limiting factor has been the processing capacity. In the last year, Project Integra has come under fire because its lack of sorting capacity caused it to landfill some of its dry recyclables (see letsrecycle.com story). Until a new materials recycling facility comes online in Alton in 2004, excess materials will be processed at plants in Berkshire and Essex.