Islington council has become the second London local authority this week to table plans to introduce compulsory recycling – despite the London Mayor's preference for incentive-based schemes.
The proposal set out by the North London local authority is due to be discussed at a council executive meeting next week (November 25) as part of the council's waste minimsation and recycling action plan 2011/12. The plan outlines means of improving its recycling performance despite cuts to its budget.
If compulsory recycling is approved by both councils, Islington and Lambeth would join Barnet, Brent and Harrow as London boroughs operating a scheme which sees residents handed fixed penalty notices for failure to recycle material.
The move to compulsory recycling would seemingly contradict Mayor Boris Johnson's preference for recycling incentive schemes – most noticeably the American rewards-based recycling scheme RecycleBank (see letsrecycle.com story).
Despite the Mayor's preference, Barnet council stated that compulsory recycling had been effective in boosting its recycling rate at a London Assembly meeting earlier this month. The council said its recycling rate had risen by 28% since the scheme was introduced in 2005 and it, as yet, not had to hand any residents a fine (see letsrecycle.com story).
Islington
Under Islington's compulsory recycling scheme it is proposed that residents could face a fixed penalty notice of up to £110 for persistent failure to recycle. However, the council has insisted that this would be a “last resort” measure with “education and encouragement” to be used beforehand.
The council claims that the use of such a system would enable it to focus its budget on “vital services”, rather than paying for landfill disposal. The council said its current landfill disposal charge is £105 per tonnes.
Councillor Paul Smith, executive member for environment at Islington, said: “We're on the side of residents, and as we face huge government funding cuts we need all our funding for our most vital services.
“We don't have the luxury of throwing money away on expensive landfill charges when recycling saves money and is better for the planet. Every penny wasted is a penny that can't be spent on something more important.”
If Islington agrees to introduce the compulsory recycling scheme it will begin informing residents in the lead-up to Christmas, with the scheme itself becoming operational from February 1 2011.
Plan
Also included within the action plan are proposals to review estates recycling, with a report to members stating that the removal of door-step recycling and the introduction of communal recycling areas could potentially save the council £250,000 per year.
Furthermore, the council has set out objectives to achieve a recycling rate in line with the one set out by the North London Waste Authority, of which Islington is a member. The exact figure for 2011/12 has yet to be finalised, however, the council predicts its target to be around 38%.
Additional goals included in the action plan which the executive will discuss are the limitation of household residual waste to 0.475 tonnes during 2011/12 and an increase in the number of businesses recycling.
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