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Massive rise in recycling and composting for Kingston
Residents in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames are now recycling almost as much as they throw away, figures released today reveal.
During the fourth quarter of the 2008/09 financial year (covering the period January to March 2009) the borough’s recycling and composting rate reached a staggering 47%. This is almost double the amount that was being recycled and composted during the same time period last year (25%).
This monumental increase corresponds with the roll-out of the Council’s new Recycling and Landfill Waste Collection Service in the winter of 2008, which introduced a weekly collection of recycling (including food waste) and a fortnightly collection of landfill waste.
The borough’s official recycling and composting rate for the entire 2008/09 financial year will be 35% as it includes nine months before the new collection service was fully operational. Even so, it represents a significant jump from the 25% recorded for the previous financial year and is expected to place Kingston among the top recycling boroughs in London when Defra releases the figures for all local authorities later in the year.
Councillor Derek Osbourne, Leader of Kingston Council, said: “I always expected these figures to make good reading, but to have reached a point where we are recycling 47% of our household waste just months after introducing the new collection service is remarkable. Credit for this achievement must go to the residents of the borough, who have embraced the new collection service and have changed the way they deal with their household waste.
“I am already looking forward to this time next year when we get to submit figures to Defra that reflect a full year’s effect of the new collection service. Kingston is now recycling and composting almost half of its household waste, making us one of the best performing authorities in the country. The challenge now is to build on this momentum and by this time next year be recycling and composting more than we are sending to landfill. That really would be a landmark achievement that we could all be very proud of.”
The biggest rise in terms of tonnage has been in the composting of kitchen and food waste. In 2007/08, 447 tonnes of food and kitchen waste were composted, almost entirely from houses involved in the Berrylands Refuse and Recycling Trial. With the borough-wide roll-out of the new collection service giving 50,000 households the facility to separate out their food waste, this figure has rocketed to 2,417 tonnes in 08/09.
Diverting food waste from landfill is particularly important as it is classed as ‘biodegradable waste’, which means that it rots in landfill sites and gives off methane, a powerful greenhouse gas which is very harmful to the environment. It is biodegradable waste (which also includes paper and cardboard) that attracts the heaviest financial penalties from Central Government if it is sent to landfill rather than being composted or recycled.
There have also been big increases in recycling tonnages for cardboard, plastic bottles and liquid food and drink cartons.
The amount of waste being sent to landfill via the Villiers Road Household Reuse and Recycling Centre fell by an incredible 40% from 7,363 tonnes in 07/08 to 4,442 in 08/09. “This is testament to the excellent work that EWC have been doing since they took over management of the site in September,” said Rob Dickson, Service Director (Environment and Sustainability) at Kingston Council. “Staff at Villiers Road have been far more proactive in terms of advising residents what can be recycled and these are the stunning results of their efforts. For example, five times as much wood was recycled at Villiers Road in 2008/9 than in the previous year.”
Rob Dickson continues: “The figures released today are great news for the borough – both environmentally and financially. I would like to thank residents for their patience and understanding while the new collection service was bedding in, but hope that these spectacular results make any temporary inconvenience worthwhile. In the space of a few months, Kingston has been propelled from an ‘also ran’ to one of the country’s best performing authorities for recycling. But let’s not rest on our laurels – there is still work to be done. The Council will continue to work hard at making it easier for people to recycle and compost - particularly for those living in flats. In return I would ask residents to continue to make a significant contribution to their local environment by recycling more and wasting less.”
Also see:
- Recycling