The need to meet EU recycling targets, and government’s desire to make Britain a zero waste country, means councils must recycle more.
Biffa-supported research has identified some common factors that can help local authorities to increase their dry recycling yields, divert more waste from increasingly expensive landfill and cut costs.
New (May 2011) research by leading public sector and environmental consultancy WYG found that local authorities can significantly boost their dry recycling yields through alternate week collection (AWC) of commingled dry recyclables and refuse from wheeled bins.
These service elements were used by most of the top 30 councils for kerbside dry recycling in 2009-10, as identified by WYG from official government data. Of the 13 most improved dry recycling councils in that year, 11 had moved to a wheeled bin or dry recycling.
The most improved local authority, Biffa-serviced Surrey Heath Borough Council, increased its dry recycling yield by 270 per cent.
Another Biffa customer, South Oxfordshire District Council, had the second-highest overall dry recycling yield of 271 kg/hh/pa, after launching a new recycling and refuse service based on AWC, commingled recyclables and wheeled bins.
WYG’s research report, ‘Review of Kerbside Recycling Collection Schemes in the UK in 2009/10’, can be downloaded by clicking here. An earlier (2010) WYG research report comparing commingled collections with kerbside-sort is also available by clicking here.
