The scheme will cover 30,000 residences including Buckingham Palace and St James's Palace. The mixed material collection will be using baskets from Straight Recycling and blue bags, although the residence part of Buckingham Palace has its own boxes which are collected from the mews behind the palace.
The collection, run by the council's waste contractor Onyx, will collect paper, cans and tins, glass and plastic bottles replacing the previous scheme that only collected paper and glass. The company has a seven year waste management and street cleaning contract worth a total of 224 million, part of which is funding the new doorstep scheme.
Councillor Judith Warner, cabinet member for street environment, said: “Westminster city council is committed to promoting recycling and is backing that commitment with a 32 million investment in the largest waste management contract ever undertaken in the UK.”
Out of the total of 125,000 households in Westminster, the new collection covers the 30,000 residences that have a doorstep. The council plans to collect data about how much each street is recycling by using weighing technology on the recycling fleet. The council will use this information to target poorly performing areas.
Ms Warner added: “Keeping the streets of central London clean and educating our residents to see recycling as part of their weekly routine is of paramount importance to us. By making recycling easier for out residents, we are encouraging a shift in attitude to make it part of everyone's mindset to think about the future of our city and get recycling.”
The materials are being taken to Cory's waste transfer station at Smugglers' Wharf before being transported to Grosvenor Waste's materials recycling facility in Crayford.
Westminster's recycling rate for 2002-03 was 9.4% with government targets of 12% by 2003-04 and 18% by 2005-06.
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