The borough is turning its weekly black box recycling service “compulsory” for 25,000 of its 116,000 households next Thursday. It hopes to expand this across the borough from October in an attempt to double its recycling rate by 2005/06.
” As a last resort the council may prosecute the most persistent offenders.“
– London Borough of Barnet
Residents in Totteridge, East Barnet, Oakleigh and Brunswick Park will be required to put glass bottles, jars, tins, cans, paper and magazines in their black recycling boxes rather than wheeled bins. These are collected on a weekly basis.
Recycling assistants will be given the task of visiting households who do not regularly recycle to explain the scheme and encourage them to participate. If they do not respond to this, further action will be taken.
The council said: “Those that persistently and deliberately fail to recycle will receive warnings and formal notices. As a last resort the council may prosecute the most persistent offenders.”
It added that those residents who already recycle “as much of their waste as they can” will notice no difference as a result of the new approach. It is thought fines for those deemed to be persistent offenders could be as much as 1,000.
Radical
Commenting on the new scheme, the council's environment cabinet member, Cllr Brian Coleman, said: “Our record on waste is good, but I realise there is more that can be done to stem the tide of household waste.
“Compulsory recycling is a radical and innovative approach, which will help us reach the challenging targets we have been set.”
He added: “If the scheme is a success, it is sure to be copied by others across the country.”
Barnet currently recycles about 15% of its household waste, but the borough will receive additional funds from the government through a local service agreement if it reaches a 30% recycling rate by 2005/06.
Power
”The move to compulsory recycling is common in countries with the highest recycling rates and many councils will be watching with interest. “
– Andy Bond, ECT Recycling MD
In a statement to residents, the council said that it had the power to require householders “to use particular containers for different waste materials” under the Environmental Protection Act 1990.
The areas chosen for the first phase of the compulsory scheme are the areas of highest participation.
Barnet's recycling contractor, ECT Recycling, welcomed the tough approach to increase the borough's participation rates in the kerbside scheme.
ECT managing director Andy Bond said: “Everyone in Barnet has the opportunity to recycle and most people already participate. It makes sense to encourage people not to put recyclable materials in the bin because it costs the council money and damages the environment.”
“The move to compulsory recycling is common in countries with the highest recycling rates and many councils will be watching with interest,” he added.
One London recycling expert told letsrecycle.com that now the capital has been given funding for new infrastructure, the real problem at hand is how to increase participation rates in recycling schemes. He said councils in other boroughs will be watching the Barnet scheme closely.
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