Welsh environment minister John Griffiths has hailed the success of two Welsh communities after they achieved a 74% municipal waste recycling rate earlier this year using an intensive kerbside-sorting collection system.
Speaking yesterday (September 22) at a conference held by Wales community recycling network Cylch in Llandudno, Mr Griffiths revealed that householders in the town of Presteigne and the village of Norton, both in Powys, had broken the 70% recycling barrier between April and June 2011.
The two communities have their waste and recycling collections delivered by local social enterprise the Cwm Harry Land Trust. The trust uses a system known as slow recycling, where a milkman style recycler works with just 250 properties a day.
It aims to produce higher-than-usual quality of material thanks to a more thorough kerbside sorting process, as well as giving more time for collection workers to encourage less confident households to recycle.
The scheme was first introduced in April 2010 (see letsrecycle.com story) and funding was secured from the WAG through the Welsh community recycling network Cylch. It is also being supported by paper firm Aylesford Newsprint, Powys county council and members of Presteigne and Norton town council and chamber of commerce.
Huge effort
In his speech, Mr Griffiths said: One of the key reasons the Presteigne and Norton project has been able to reach this level of recycling is the huge effort they have made to engage with the local community.
This has involved employing local staff, caf drop in sessions, talks, litter picks and much more. The result of this fantastic engagement is a 92% participation rate and a community that understands and supports the scheme.
He told delegates at the conference that the success of the initiative showed one of the key strengths of social enterprises their ability to connect with local community.
In particular, he said their independence meant groups were widely trusted, while their people focused and caring approach meant they could build lasting relationships with the communities they work in.
He added:You are also seen to be very flexible and responsive in meeting peoples needs and often you are part of the community yourselves. This builds trust and enables myths and misconceptions to be addressed directly with your community.
Legal targets
Last year, Wales became the first UK country to introduce legally-binding targets under which all councils must achieve a 70% recycling rate by 2025 (see letsrecycle.com story).
And, while he praised the achievements of Presteigne and Norton, Mr Griffiths warned against complacency, with Wales having most recently achieved a 43.6% municipal waste recycling rate in 2010/11 (see letsrecycle.com story).
The two Welsh communities are not the first areas to break the 70% barrier, after figures compiled by letsrecycle.com earlier this year revealed that SouthOxfordshire district council recycled 70.56% of its household waste in 2010/11 without any extra government funding. This was achieved through commingled dry recycling collections and a weekly food waste collection (see letsrecycle.com story).
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