Mary Reid: Virtuous (re)cycle

Mary Reid | 16 May 2008 | 08:46

Virtuous (re)cycle

I don't know about you, but recycling as much as I can makes me feel quite virtuous.

So how do you increase recycling from 25% to 50% overall?

Simple, you collect recycling every week and you recycle a wider range of materials. That's what happened in Berrylands when the Council tried out weekly recycling collections.

The latest news is that 'Berrylands trial' helped to push the Borough average for recycling over 25% for the first time. That means that when a similar scheme is introduced across the Borough in September we should see a substantial leap in recycling figures overall.

I do hope so. Some pretty negative things were said, purely for political gain, about the Berrylands trial. It was a trial, which means that lessons were learned, and there will be some tweaks in the new system. But the increase from 25% to 50% cannot be ignored.

As I've mentioned before, from September the weekly recycling collection will include food waste, cardboard, drinks cartons, directories and batteries as well as the usual paper, glass, textiles and plastic bottles. Anything else will go to landfill, and the Government tax on that will double by 2012 - a charge that will have to be met by council tax payers.

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recycling

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Jon Fray

on 20 May 2008 at 15:30

...hang on. The Conservatives were in Victoria Road last Saturday saying that there is nothing wrong with throwing stuff in landfill. I wonder who they think wants to pay the landfill tax? They say that the landfill rubbish rots and produces methane which in turn can be captured and burned to produce electricity. I wondered what would decompose, because as far as I can tell most of the stuff that rots (food waste, cardboard and paper) will be collected every week for recycling or composting. If Kingston Council could find an outlet (they do exist) for plastic packaging, such as food trays, then a great deal more of the volume of waste would be gone from the 'landfill bin'.

Mary Reid

on 20 May 2008 at 18:12

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Oh dear.....just shows that they haven't a clue.
As I understand it, the new waste contract will add in other materials for recycling over time eg other forms of plastic. But I'm trying very hard to reduce the amount of food packaging I buy - some of it is necessary to avoid contamination, but we can all buy loose fruit and veg instead of those perfectly arranged plastic trays.