Greencycle hits out at its media portrayal

The Enfield-based company – which provides source separated household waste collections for councils in Durham and Congleton – has claimed that it is managing to move recyclables stored at a temporary facility in County Durham and has urged residents to continue recycling.

Camera crews from BBC, ITN and Sky News have filmed stored material at the County Durham site, and the company claims that bales of paper, glass, mixed cans and plastic shown at the facility are now entering the market place.

The company told letsrecycle.com that the media reports had given the impression that the storage of material was an unacceptable situation for a recycling or waste management company to be in and the media had not taken into account the current market conditions or the fact that companies always have some material waiting to be sold.

Neil Rippon, managing director of the company, said: “The [mainstream media] don't understand how much material people like us collect over a month, for example we collect 3,000 tonnes from Durham, and having some waiting to be sold is normal.”

“This was not weeks and weeks worth of material, the Mail on Sunday have an agenda to fill. They have an agenda even before you give your answers and weren't going to let the facts get in the way,” he added.

Transparency

Explaining his decision to open his warehouse to the reporters, Mr Rippon said that he did so in the spirit of transparency and because he had “nothing to hide”.

He said: “If we say ‘no comment' people will think we have got something to hide. As for the press, I don't really care because I know the truth.”

“The Mail on Sunday came and did the story they wanted to do, and not one person I deal with has asked me about it, I am not happy about some of the TV coverage we had either because they have their agendas as well,” he added.

The managing director becomes the latest in a line of industry bodies and companies to criticise the handling of the recycling downturn by the national media, after Veolia Environmental Services, Viridor Waste Management and the Environmental Services Association all issued statements on the “misleading” reports (see letsrecycle.com story).

Mr Rippon explained that the lack of confidence in the British economy was now seeping into the recycling market and it was important for waste management companies, local authorities and other members of the recycling trade to continue to urge people to recycle.

He said: “People need to tell as many people as possible to keep recycling and it is not going to landfill. Us in the trade, local authorities and the trade press need to keep giving the message, what I have tried to do is say keep recycling, keep doing it, don't stop.”