Recycling rates soar

Recycling rates across Greater Manchester have reached 30% according to a new report and hopes are high that the rates will soar further over the next year.

The latest annual report of the Greater Manchester Waste Disposal Authority (GMWDA) has reviewed the authority's performance over the past 12 months and revealed the challenges for the coming year.

The report states: "The GMWDA continued to deliver its key objectives, improve its performance, and has worked with the districts of Greater Manchester to improve recycling rates. This has helped increase recycling rates from 7% in 2002/03 to almost 30% for 2007/08."

Earlier this year GMWDA signed up to the Nottingham Declaration on Climate Change and has instigated a member led Climate Change working group in order to look at what the authority is currently doing to take action against Climate Change, and what more can be done.

Meanwhile, recycling and composting rates at the Household Waste Recycling Centre have reached 47%.

Councillor Neil Swannick, Chairman of GMWDA, commented: “I am delighted to see excellent continuous improvements in the GMWDA’s performance over the last 12 months, and we are looking forward to progressing further in the current year. There has been a vast amount of work completed by GMWDA, and we are hoping to capitalise on this and work towards achieving our key objectives in 2008/09. We are looking forward to signing the 25-year waste management contract, and improving Household Waste Recycling Centres to encourage residents to recycle more."