After six months of the first large-scale high rise recycling scheme in the country, the chair of the Tower Hamlets Recycling Consortium has revealed the scheme is averaging 60% participation levels.
Worku Lakew, who also runs Recycling Works Haringey and Kensington and Chelsea Community Recycling, said late last week that the new service in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets is picking up an average of 3.5kg of material per household per week.
” The recycling service is empowering people in flats, and therefore they don't take it lightly.“
– Worku Lakew, Tower Hamlets Recycling Consortium
The Consortium won a five-year contract with the council last July, with a possible two-year extension, to provide a green box service collecting paper, card, textiles, cans and glass. By the end of this month, the service will cover 20,000 households in the Bethnal Green and Stepney areas, while it is expected to reach 33,000 in mid-March – about 1,200 blocks of flats.
With a contract value as high as 2.7 million, the eventual aim of the contract is to cover all 69,000 to 73,000 high rise households in the borough. Tower Hamlets has the largest concentration of flats in the country – 85% of the borough's residents live in flats.
Speaking at a London Community Recycling Network event on Thursday night, Mr Lakew said the council's only option had been to push for a high rise recycling scheme in order to reach its targets. But initially, the Consortium had thought participation rates would be about 35%.
Mr Lakew said: “We had to be cautious in the tender submission. We submitted a figure of 35%. But what we are finding now is that participation is averaging 60%.
Empowering
“In high rise flats, people are de-linked from the rest of us. Even the postman just leaves the mail at the bottom of the block. The fact that we are going in to provide (recycling) on the doorstep is really important to them. They feel they are deserving of this service, it is empowering them and therefore they don't take it lightly,” Mr Lakew explained.
The ten best blocks of flats are seeing participation levels of 77% to 87%, Mr Lakew said, but warned that just one day's poor service could impact on participation.
Continued on page 2
Register for free to comment