Under the initiative, South Cambridgeshire District Council gives proceeds from recycling credits back to community groups and parish councils and the council hopes that by doing this the public will be more likely to recycle. Local groups receive 5.71, out of a 26 recycling credit, for every tonne that they recycle. Parishes receive a donation equivalent to the tonnage that has been collected in their village. The rest of the recycling credit pays for the scheme. Cleanaway carries out the collection in South Cambridgeshire and receives any income from the recyclables.
Giving something back to the community has been a key part of the council's recycling policy and last year, when the scheme was run from bring sites, local communities received around 18,000 for recycling their waste. This year, with the new kerbside scheme, they should receive about 35,000.
Don Haymes, waste minimisation and recycling officer for South Cambridgeshire District Council, said last week that he had been “staggered” by the success of the kerbside scheme. “I am sure the reason we get so much support is because we give the residents something back from the kerbside collection. I think it is a fairly novel scheme. We used to give parishes the money raised from recycling banks in their villages and because of that the parishes have supported recycling banks very well and we thought it would be good to extend this initiative.”
Communities
Paul Quigley, environmental services manager, explained that many communities have spent the money on improving recycling facilities or improving the village hall or local scout hut. The council does not impose any restrictions on what the money can be spent on.
The council rolled out the kerbside scheme to 12,000 households in 2000 and last summer all 54,000 homes served by the district council were issued with a green box for a fortnightly collection of paper, cans, bottles, textiles and glass. The scheme still has the support of 80% of its residents, which is shown by a doubling of the council's recycling rate from 9% in the summer to 18%.
The council has also been amazed by the success of the scheme over the Christmas period which saw recycling collection crews having to work overtime to cope with demand. South Cambridgeshire normally collects 30 tonnes of glass a week but since Christmas the collection of glass doubled. South Cambridgeshire District Council normally collects 125 tonnes of recyclable materials a week through its kerbside scheme and the 85 recycling centres throughout South Cambridgeshire.
Mr Haymes has now left the council to join Somerset-based Wyvern Waste for whom he will run a materials recycling facility (MRF).
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