Unaudited figures for 2003/04 suggest that Hillingdon, in west London, recycled 23.9% of household waste in 2003/04 up from 19.5% the year before. In total the borough collected over 32,000 tonnes of materials for recycling and composting.
Last year's top borough, Bexley, slipped a couple of percentage points due to a fire in a recycling depot but now has plans to recycle 30% by the end of 2004/05.
Hillingdon has met its statutory target to recycle or compost 14 % of household waste by 2003/04 and has even exceeded its next target of 21% recycling by 2005/06.
Duncan Jones, waste development manager at Hillingdon council told letsrecycle.com that the leap was mainly due to a new garden waste collection service introduced in 2003. “This was the first year for our kerbside collection of garden waste and it has made a big difference,” he said.
The council is now in a position to aim for the London Mayor's target to recycle 25% of household waste by 2005.
Mr Jones said: “There are a couple of things in the pipeline. I am writing a report to recommend that we collect our dry recyclables weekly instead of fortnightly so it is the same frequency as our refuse collection. And then we have the option of adding glass, which is not currently collected.”
Hillingdon also hopes to carry out a refurbishment of CA sites in the borough and is considering rolling out an estates recycling scheme this summer. Mr Jones said that it is important to maintain quality of recyclables and he did not want estates recycling if there was a high contamination level. “What I will not do is sacrifice the quality of material, if the system is abused I will remove it,” he said.
Bexley
Last year's top London borough for recycling, Bexley, believes it dropped one or two percentage points from its 22% recycling rate in 2002/03.
Bexley's council's waste and recycling manager, Stephen Didsbury explained: “Last year it dipped a bit, because we had a fire at one of our recycling plants, but our pilot recycling schemes are now going borough-wide.”
The council believes its kerbside expansion will increase recycling rates to 30% at the end of this year and to 37% by 2005/06. The main focus for this increase will be green waste, including kitchen waste, and the council signed a 1.8 million deal with Straight plc for new wheeled bins.
Mr Didsbury said: “We've been collecting plastic, paper and cardboard since 1995, but that's now expanding borough-wide. And we're extending green waste collections – excluding meat – first it's going to go to an in-vessel in Suffolk, but then hopefully it will go to Cleanaway's new in-vessel in Rainham.”
Kerbside
Other London boroughs that topped 20% recycling in 2003/04 include Richmond-Upon-Thames (22.04%) and Bromley (20.07%), both having conducted intensive kerbside drives last year.
Some councils have had difficulties maintaining rates because the dry weather last summer meant that the green waste collected was dry, and therefore lighter. Hounslow was disappointed with its recycling rate of 15.8%, up from 13% in 2003/04, said recycling officer Trevor Watkins, because the council's kerbside green waste collection tonnages were hit by the dry summer.
Hammersmith and Fulham
One of the biggest leaps in recycling last year in London was by Hammersmith and Fulham borough council which almost doubled its recycling rate from 8.5 to 16% following the launch of an orange sack kerbside collection scheme.
Councillor Michael Cartwright, deputy for environment, said: “This highlights the council’s hard work to improve recycling services and make it as easy as possible for residents to reduce the amount of their waste being sent to landfill.”
The orange sack is also used by two other councils in Western Riverside Waste Authority – Lambeth and Wandsworth – to collect paper and card, glass, plastic bottles and cans.
The rapid increase in recycling means the council has now met the government’s target to recycle 16% of household waste by 2003/4. The council is now introducing recycling facilities for tower blocks and housing estates, and installing extra recycling bins in new locations.
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