Councillors to Help Recycling Efforts in Flats

When the borough council had drawn a blank in getting 191 blocks of flats in the borough to expand their recycling, councillors offered to help.

At a meeting of the Environment Committee on Wednesday 24th March, Lib Dems proposed that councillors should be made aware of which blocks of flats used the recycling service and which didn't, so that they could try and help. A ward-by-ward list of recycling flats and non-recycling flats will be sent to every councillor. A block of flats needs to have a "champion" living there - someone who will make sure (or organise a rota) so that recycling bins are properly located, put out for collection and not cross-contaminated.

Council officers have surveyed all flats in the borough but failed to find a "champion" in many cases. Sadly, some flats simply do not have space for the necessary bins and containers. The efforts of council officers (and the small budget available) will now be targeted toward schools : their waste has been re-classified as domestic, which means they can get collection services free of charge.

The Lib Dems suggested that councillors could help by using their own contacts and visit flats in their own time to try and reduce the number of blocks of flats which didn't recycle. With the costs of waste going to landfill going through the roof, it makes sense to encourage as much recycling as possible. The Committee agreed.

The Business Partnership Board is soon to launch publicity about business and commercial recycling services available from the borough council. They are particularly keen to get restaurants on board with recycling. Residents involved in a local business are asked to contact the council's recycling department for details of the new service.