Recycling is on the up

Hertsmere is recycling a third of its waste – that’s the news coming from Waste Management today.

Between October and December 2006 residents recycled 34% of their household waste, an increase of 7% on figures for the same time last year.

Steve Burton, Head of Waste Management, said: "I am delighted with the amount of plastic, cans and paper collected. So far, over 900 tonnes have been collected and diverted from landfills. It really shows the difference ABC collections can make towards improving recycling in Hertsmere and the figure is more than what I anticipated. Resident's are keen to be involved in recycling and I’d like to thank everyone who has taken part by recycling through the Additional Bin Collections scheme. I hope you can see that by making the small change to the way you sort your rubbish has made a real impact.

"I appreciate there have been pockets of problems in the implementation of the scheme but overall we are pleased with the way things are going - the results speak for themselves."

Additional Bin Collections allow residents to recycle plastic and cans for the first time as part of their kerbside collections in their new black box - and residents are showing their support for the scheme by the amount being recycled. Since the launch of the ABC scheme on 6 November 2006 the council has collected 162 tonnes of plastic and cans, and 733 tonnes of paper.

Recycling facts:

• Just in the UK, we produce enough plastic to fill the Royal Albert Hall three times every single day. That's about six million tonnes a year
• Recycling just one plastic bottle can save the same amount of energy needed to power a 60watt light bulb for six hours
• It takes over 400 years for just one plastic bottle to break down in a landfill site
• Recycling plastic saves twice as much energy as burning it in an incinerator
• The energy saved by recycling one bottle will power a computer for 25 minutes
• We produce and use over 20 times more plastic today than we did 50 years ago
• recycling aluminium drink cans saves up to 95% of the energy needed to make aluminium from its raw materials
• making one aluminium drink can from raw materials uses the same amount of energy that it takes to recycle 20
• the energy saved by recycling one aluminium drink can is enough to run a television for three hours
• the average household uses 3.2kg of aluminium cans a year - that's about 208 cans