Waste not, want not in Hertsmere

Waste not, want not and recycle 76% of your rubbish – that’s the message to Hertsmere residents in the run up to Additional Bin Collections.

As Hertsmere Borough Council prepares to launch Additional Bin Collections, the Council has enlisted the support of three families across the Borough to take part in a two-week household waste audit to find out how much they throw away and how much they will be able to recycle through the ABC scheme.

Joanne Maddock-Lyon, 34, who lives in Potters Bar with her husband Nick, 36 and their three children: Luke, seven; Aimee, five and Sylvie, two, said: “We recycle anyway as a family and were happy to take part in an audit to find out how much more we could do as a household. I hope by showing just how much an average family throws away unnecessarily, we can encourage more people to recycle.”

The families were asked to fill in an audit sheet every time they threw something away so that Waste specialists could work out how much could have recycled through their green/brown bin, black and blue boxes, and at household recycling centres across Hertsmere.

The results of the waste audit are:

• The Murray family threw away 507 items of which 402 could have been recycled, which means 79% was recyclable
• The Olins family could have recycled 74% of their rubbish as 697 items out of the total 947 could have been placed in their recyclable bins and boxes or at a recycling centre
• The Maddock-Lyon famiy could have recycled 513 of the 685 items they threw away, which is about 75%.

Ann Murray, 46, who lives in Borehamwood with her husband Simon, 49 and their nine-year-old son Jordan, said: “I was pleasantly surprised with the result and how much I could be recycling. Recycling our household waste through kerbside collections is easy and I will happily get into the habit of recycling a little bit more.

“As a childminder, I have a lot of waste, so I feel taking part in this audit will show that busy families can recycle through their normal bin collections too. I hope this will encourage people who think it’s too much of an effort to recycle that it’s not - we all need to get involved now to help save our planet."

Nicky Olins, 43, who lives in Bushey with her husband Antony, 45 and their three children: Simon, 15; Joshua, 12 and Rachel, 10, said: “Although I have been recycling for some time, I think the ABC system will be an excellent initiative. I am impressed with the high percentage of household waste that can be recycled. It may take a short time to get used to, but I am certain that people will get into the habit of recycling regularly.”

Cllr Jean Heywood, portfolio holder for Waste Management, said: “I know that some residents may be apprehensive about the new service, but Additional Bin Collections will make household recycling much easier for residents as this waste audit highlights.”

For the first time in Hertsmere, residents will be able to recycle plastics as part of their household collection.

Steve Burton, Head of Waste Management, said: “By weight, plastic makes up approximately 8% of the household waste stream, although it often appears to be more due to its light and extremely bulky nature. The biggest use of plastics in the UK is packaging, which is used to wrap almost half of all packaged goods and accounts for 37% of consumption.

“ABCs will allow us to make significant improvements to our recycling targets but only if residents support us by actively home recycling.

“However, there are many different types of plastic and it comes in many different forms. The type of plastic used to make carrier bags is very different from the type used to make toothpaste tubes, and this again is different from the plastic used for shampoo bottles. Each type of plastic is suited to its particular use, and the qualities of each type affects it's suitability to be recycled. So, please be aware of what plastics you are putting in the black box.”

Ann adds: “I was concerned about putting food waste in the green bin when we first received it because I thought there could be maggots and smells. However, since we’ve started using the kitchen caddie liners, I’ve had no problems. We recycle as much as we can and as a result we have hardly anything in our black bin now.”

Why not see how much you throw away by taking filling in a waste audit data sheet available here.