A prominent member of the London Waste and Recycling Board has raised concerns that the Recycle for London public awareness campaign, which received 5 million in funding from the board, is not having much effect on the ground.
At a board meeting in City Hall yesterday (December 13), councillor Daniel Moylan said that in the current economic climatefunding could be better spent elsewhere on projects which he said were of a higher priority and would have a greater impact.
Voicing his concerns at the meeting, he said: I am not convinced it is garnering any return on the ground, adding that boroughs have challenging targets to meet. I dont believe its necessary to spend money on the hearts and minds of them.
Recycle for London is a communications campaign designed to inform London residents about the importance of reuse and recycling which kicked off in November 2009. It is solely funded by LWaRB, whichawarded theproject5 millionfor borough support activities and campaigningbetween 2008-2013. The campaign is delivered in partnership by the Greater London Authority and WRAP.
Attitudes
However, fellow London Waste and Recycling Board (LWaRB) member councillor Colin Hall stated that the scheme was about getting people on board and changing the boroughs attitudes towards waste.
It is a noticeable, recognisable campaign. It supports the things that are important to do to get the people in the boroughs to change their attitudes towards waste, he said.
LWaRB chair, James Cleverly, said the impact of the project needed to be assessed, but said there were difficulties in doing this because it was a communications campaign.
I think one of the things we do need to do is to have an assessment as to the impact the expenditure is having but Im not convinced we can do a direct comparison on targets with a project like this, Mr Cleverly said.
Efficiencies
At the meeting the LWaRB also launched a 4.6 million Efficiencies Programme, aimed at helping Londons waste authorities deliver saving in waste management costs.
The programme will be split into seven work streams which offer waste authorities time and money saving opportunities. The seven work streams are:
- Joint procurement of recycling materials contracts
- Joint procurement of waste equipment
- Efficiency reviews
- Development of service sharing
- Best practice tools
- Creation of model service specifications
- Recycling and Reuse Centre (RRC) fund
Businesses
The 3 million RRC fund will see LWaRB working in partnership with WRAP to support boroughs in the implementation of business waste services at their recycling centres which will allow small businesses the opportunity to recycle their waste.
Commenting on the efficiencies programme Mr Cleverly, said: At a time when Boroughs are having to tighten their belts, this Programme will not only help to realise savings, but expand waste services and improve ways of working too.
Small businesses have often struggled to recycle their waste however in October this year the Local Authority Business Recycling and Waste Collection Commitment was launched (see letsrecycle.com story), laying out a set of best practice principles for local authorities on how to tailor its recycling services to local businesses.
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