Historically, the city has been one of the weaker areas in the country for recycling, with rates last year as low as 2%. But the city now has a Waste Reduction, Reuse and Recycling Action Plan and is working to recycle 8% of its household waste by the end of this year.
The city council has now signed a five-year contract with Cheshire Recycling to collect paper from 150,000 households (see letsrecycle.com story).
It had been reported in the local media that environment minister Elliot Morley had written a letter expressing concern at the city's poor recycling performance.
However, a city council spokesman told letsrecycle.com that the reports had been “a bit of interpretation by the local media” and that in reality the government was not stepping in to assist the council, as had been suggested.
“Initially we had hoped to have the kerbside collections up and running by April, but as with any project like this there has been some negotiation which meant we were only able to start at the end of June.
“But it's now up and running, and we now know that in the first week we collected 50 tonnes from 25,000 households. It has exceeded our expectations, and that's just from the first 25,000 households, it's now up to 50,000. It's also taken place when a lot of people are on holiday, we're hoping that as people get back it will be even better.”
Cheshire Recycling procures material for the Bridgewater Paper Company, which manufacturers recycled newsprint at Ellesmere Port. The Liverpool collection contract, which is based on 20,000 tonnes of material a year, is expected to expand to include cans, glass bottles and textiles.
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