London borough doubles recycling rate

A London borough has doubled its recycling and is now sending only slightly more than half of all its domestic waste to landfill.


Kingston Borough Council in south west London attributes the fall to introducing which introduced a weekly collection of recycling, including food waste, and a fortnightly collection of landfill waste

The council made the switch, which has proved controversial across the UK, in the winter of 2008.

Figures showing recycling and composting rates for January to March this year reveal the move has paid off for the authority.

It has resulted in the borough’s recycling and composting rate reached 47% almost double the amount that was being recycled and composted during the same time period last year which was just 25%.

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.

The authority hopes this will place it among the top recycling boroughs in London when Defra releases the figures for all local authorities later in the year.

Rob Dickson, service director environment and sustainability at the council said: “The figures are great news for the borough – both environmentally and financially.

“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.”

Luke Walsh

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