The council has set a target of reaching 22.5% recycling of municipal waste – the city currently produces over 300,000 tonnes annually – and the kerbside scheme is anticipated to play a huge part in that task.
Elizabeth Minkin, executive councillor for recycling at Leeds, said: “At the moment, about 13% of the city's refuse is recycled. We have set a target to increase this to almost 23% by 2005, and this scheme will help us do that. By this time next year, most people in Leeds will live more than a few steps away from a recycling bin.”
At the moment, the kerbside collection picks up around 9,000 tonnes of material annually, but this is expected to reach 35,000 tonnes after the expansion – around 46% of the city's total recycling tonnage.
Contract
The figure dwarfs the 9,000 tonnes of material currently collected from the service. Material from the current collection goes to the materials recycling facility in nearby Kirklees for sorting, but the council is in the process of letting a contract for the processing of the material from the expanded scheme.
Commenting on the scheme, Randal Brown, director of contracting services, said: “We have a good story to tell about recycling in the city, and the people of Leeds are to be congratulated for their participation in the scheme as we extend it to cover the rest of the city.”
Multi-Storey
Leeds is also planning a new service for multi-storey flats in the city. Although the kerbside expansion will be paid for by council funds prioritised from its budget, the new high-rise scheme benefits from 500,000 of DEFRA's National Waste Minimisation and Recycling Fund.
The project will see mini-recycling facilities provided in the grounds of all multi-storey blocks – serving 8,500 households – to collect glass in one container and paper, card, plastic and cans in another.
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