Barnet recycling scheme sees first week success

A new recycling scheme in Barnet seems to have been a huge success after only being implemented for a week. 

Within the first seven days of the council's new scheme, 897 tonnes of rubbish has been taken for recycling, prompting the cabinet member for the environment, Jack Cohen, to thank borough residents for following the new recycling guidelines.

A total of 777 tonnes of co-mingled recycling was picked up from homes in Barnet during the first week of the scheme. This is in comparison to the 350 tonnes of recycling that would usually be collected in a week under the former scheme. 

However, this figure is increased because the first week of the scheme collected a fortnight's worth of recycling, which would usually equate to 600 tonnes of recycling. The rise is still welcome and it is hoped that residents will continue to adhere to the new scheme and recycle more of their household waste to reduce the amount of rubbish that goes to landfill.

On top of the household rubbish, 120 tonnes of food waste was also collected from brown bins throughout the borough during the first week of the scheme. The in-sourced recycling service collected the refuse that will no longer go to landfill.

Councillor Cohen said: “I am delighted and grateful that residents have recycled so much this week. I am particularly pleased with the amount of food waste we have collected. This is a completely new service and almost all of this would have ended up in landfill in the past."

Although the recycling scheme has been successful, the first week of implementation has seen some problems. Some residents have continued to put their bins out on old collection days, while others are expecting both their recycling and other waste to be collected at the same time on the same day, which is not the case as there are two separate lorries.

“I wouldn’t pretend that this has been a glitch free week but the enthusiasm of residents for the new service has been a great help. The most common complaint we have had over the last week is ‘where is my new bin’. Residents want to be recycling more," continued councillor Cohen.

Published 24th October, 2013

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