Wellingborough Borough Council considering a number of fresh ideas to push up the Borough’s recycling rate and avoid potential fines for insufficient waste diversion from landfill.
Despite the Borough Council’s best efforts, it is still lagging in the Northamptonshire recycling league.
Wellingborough has placed fifth out of the seven Northamptonshire authorities for recycling. Its recycling rate approached 18% in 2006/07.
In terms of composting, Wellingborough is ranked fourth with only 12.46% of waste collected being composted. This is less than half of the top performing authority in Northamptonshire - Daventry.
The Council has introduced a 3-bin alternate weekly collection in the past year. The effects of the new system are not yet fully realised, however, it is recognised that more needs to be done.
The Borough Council approached the recycling problem by inviting all relevant staff to a workshop held last November, to discuss ideas.
Some of the ideas discussed were:
• Winning over hearts and minds of all of the borough’s residents so that ‘reduction, re-use and recycling’ become increasingly comfortable.
• Re-initiate the service with a targeted campaign to educate residents on recycling habits.
• Provision of high quality information on recycling to be followed up by home visits where necessary.
• The Council could also include a ‘tough edge’ to the campaign – with enforcement backing as a last resort.
• Start with a pilot area to carefully monitor the effects of the revised operation, including levels of contamination in recyclables
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