Go all the way for the extra 6.5k
Cherwell has a new recycling target for 2009 - to collect 'the extra 6,500 tonnes'. That’s the annual amount of waste that could be recycled that's still going into green bins. It's equivalent to about 1000 African elephants!
And the council can confirm that recycling really is worth doing - none of the material that Cherwell residents sort out goes to landfill or storage. It all gets recycled.
The 6.5k is made up of paper, glass, textiles and cans that are still being thrown into green bins when they could be recycled.
- around 2,800 tonnes of paper
- 1,500 tonnes of glass
- 1,200 tonnes of textiles
- 1,000 tonnes of cans.
If residents switched the paper and cans to their blue bin or box and took the glass and textiles to one of the 70 bring-banks in the district, Cherwell's recycling rate could hit 60 per cent. And it would reduce the fines that Cherwell council tax payers will be faced with when tougher EU limits are imposed on landfill.
Cherwell's Portfolio Holder for community, health and environment, Councillor George Reynolds, said: “Our residents have made excellent efforts to get our recycling rate up to 48 per cent. But 6,5k tonnes is a lot of paper, glass, textiles and cans that we are still throwing needlessly into landfill. Getting it into the blue bins and boxes or our bring-banks will be a big boost. What’s more, every tonne of the 6.5k we recycle rather than dump will reduce what we'll have to pay when the landfill fines get tougher.”
In the year to 31 March 2008, Cherwell achieved a recycling rate of 48 per cent - up around three per cent on the year before. Cherwell is the leading recycling council in the South East and one of the top 30 recycling councils in the country.
