Good public response as Selby kerbside enters final phase

The council, which covers the area south of York, had a recycling rate of 9.54% in 2002/03, according to the Audit Commission, plus 1.86% composting.

It has operated a kerbside scheme since 1992, initially a monthly collection of paper and card from only 2,200 homes.

One of Selby's collection vehicles, displaying its recycling slogan

This expanded steadily until it gained funding in 2002 from Waste Recycling Environment Ltd, Waste Recycling Group's environmental body, to switch to a “Don't bin it, box it” fortnightly twin box scheme for paper and glass.

More than 200 tonnes of paper and card and more than 50 tonnes of glass are now collected each month.

Council leader Mark Crane said: “The amount of material being recycled each month is more than we had anticipated, and it demonstrates how important recycling is to people.”

Of residents surveyed at the end of the twin box scheme's first 18 months, 96% thought recycling was a good use of the council's resources.

Multi-material
Public response suggested that multi-material collections encouraged greater participation, with resident offered this service recycling more paper than those offered paper alone.

More than three-quarters of respondents were happy with the size of the 55 litres boxes, and 98.9% believed the service was either good or excellent.

However, the results were less impressive for waste reduction. The increase in the quantity of recyclable materials collected should have meant that wheeled bins for other waste became less full, but responses showed that “the space that is created by recycling is being filled by something else”, the council said.

Almost all responses agreed, or agreed strongly, that reduction was as important as recycling but “action does not seem to be forthcoming,” it noted.

Selby is unusual in that all its recyclable materials can be taken to processing plants within two miles of its boundary, allowing it to adhere to the proximity principle. Recipients are Rigid Paper, of Selby, and Rockware's glass plant at Knottingley.