The 'Kerb-it' programme was launched in May 2003 and initial results have been promising, with the borough's overall recycling rate jumping from 6.8% to 8.7% in the first month of operation, with only a third of households covered.
The 2.5 million programme includes a fortnightly green box collection service and a Rethink Rubbish awareness campaign.
 The Prime Minister with Alan Hodgson, portfolio holder for the environment with Sedgefield borough council |
The new service is replacing the borough's 'House2House' kerbside paper scheme and is expected to be serving all of the borough's 38,000 households by the end of this month.
Commenting on the scheme, Mr Blair said: “The dramatic results that have been achieved through Sedgefield Borough’s Kerb-it scheme serve to underline the huge potential of schemes such as these, because they are convenient and easy-to-use. That’s why the government is encouraging widespread adoption of such schemes throughout the country as an effective way to help reduce the amount of rubbish thrown away each year and diverted away from landfill.”
The green box service is being run by Premier Waste Management and picks up glass jars and bottles, newspapers magazines, steel tins and drinks cans for recycling. Premier Waste is selling paper to Shotton Paper, glass on to British Glass, and the cans are going to Alcan and Corus.
Partnership
Funding for the service has come through a partnership between Sedgefield Borough Council, Durham County Council, Durham City Council and Chester-le-Street District Council.
Support from a Local Public Service Agreement, which gives councils increased borrowing abilities, means the recycling targets the council has to meet are tougher than their existing statutory targets. Sedgefield must therefore reach a 17% household waste recycling rate by 2004-05, where their original targets had been 10% by 2003-04 and 18% by 2005-06.
Oliver Priestley-Leach, Sedgefield's waste management officer, told letsrecycle.com that he was confident the borough would meet its “stretched” targets.
He said: “In the first month only a third of householders were taking part and there was still quite a marked increase in the recycling rate. We're aiming to pick up about 330 tonnes a month of paper, glass and cans, so we should hit our stretched targets, really. We have set out rates of about 50 to 60% and participation a bit higher than that, as some families only put their boxes out once a month, rather than fortnightly.”
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