Boost to recycling

Good news for green waste: loads collected by the council for recycling should now all get accepted at the composting plant.

Huge numbers of green waste loads were being rejected and sent to landfill, a problem faced by Hertsmere and other local authorities. But after weeks of consultation and meetings between Hertsmere Borough Council and the county council, working in partnership with other authorities, a solution has been found.

Cllr Morris Bright, leader of the council, said: "When I first raised this issue at our full council meeting in November I had confidence in our residents that the majority of them were following our recycling guidelines and were helping us to increase our recycling rates by separating their waste appropriately. We were able to verify this through the independent checks we had made on some sample loads. We were very concerned with the frustrating situation where a high proportion of our green waste loads were being rejected and we could not get to the bottom of why.

 "We are now pleased that a sensible workable solution has been found to the problem. We have worked hard to find a resolution, as we promised to do so, and now on the occasions where there does appear to be some contamination of loads, Herts County Council has arranged that staff are on hand to pick those items out to allow the loads to be recycled and not sent back to landfill.

Cllr Jean Heywood, portfolio holder for the environment, said: "I have spent many a day sifting through people's green waste to really try to get to the bottom of this issue and spent hours with my counterparts trying to find a solution. Residents have been very supportive in their efforts to recycle their green waste so it has been frustrating for us to see loads rejected. Therefore I am very pleased that we now appear to have a workable solution which will benefit us all. We want to build on the success we have had with our paper, tin and can recycling and go for 100% acceptance of our green waste and there is no reason now why that should not happen.

 "Residents are reminded to still not contaminate their different collections but with a positive response from the county in relation to the problems we have encountered and the continued support from residents, I look forward to seeing recycling rates rise even further.

 "My thanks go to those who have worked hard to get us to this good result and in particular to our head of waste Steve Burton."

Cllr Bright is in regular contact with his counter-parts at Hertfordshire County Council and is due to hold a further meeting with the Leader of the County Council on 21 December to review Hertsmere's recycling rate.