Our recycling rate is the best in the South West and
second best in the country, for a unitary council, according to
national recycling figures which have just been
published.
Apart from Rutland Council, a much smaller authority, our
recycling rate is the highest of all other unitary councils at
58.66% and is the best unitary in the South West.
The figures have come from WasteDataFlow, the web based system
for waste data reporting by UK local authorities to government, and
are for the first quarter of 2011/12.
In the summer of 2010, in response to the views of residents,
escalating costs and environmental concerns, we revolutionised
the service by introducing a cost effective, sustainable, recycling
service, including weekly recycling and food waste collections.
The new services has meant the amount of kerbside residual waste
put out by residents has reduced from around 700 kg per household
in 2009/10 to less than 470 kg per household in 2011/12. Since
2005, the amount of residual waste put out by householders has
reduced by more than half.
Research has also shown very high levels of satisfaction with
the new services.
In the two years since the council launched its new recycling
services, it will have achieved the following:
A 58% increase in the amount of waste recycled or composted
(from 38,000 tonnes to 60,000 tonnes)
A recycling rate that has increased from 37% to 58% - the second
best in the country (for unitary councils)
A 21,000 tonne per annum reduction in residual household
waste
A £2m reduction in landfill / disposal costs, expected to rise
to £10m over the course of the seven-year contract
A survey of residents has also shown very high levels of
resident satisfaction with the new collection services - % of
respondents satisfied as follows:
Residual waste service 92%
Recycling service 94%
Food waste service 91%
Garden waste service 95%
The national average satisfaction rate is 78% for these
services.
Cllr Peter Bryant, executive member for recycling and waste
services, said: "These figures are great news and I would like to
thank residents for their efforts in recycling as much as
possible."
