‘Disappointment’ over recycling figures

Rochdale’s waste recycling figures are going down, figures have revealed.

For the year ending April 2011 30 per cent of the borough’s waste was recycled, compared to 34 per cent the year below.

However, Rochdale Council has put the drop down to a different way of measuring recycling.

Councillor Wera Hobhouse, Leader of the Liberal Democrats, has accused the council of not being committed to the environment.

Councillor Hobhouse, said: “I am hugely disappointed about this news and I don’t accept the lame excuses that are being wheeled out for this failure.

“For many years we were leading the way of improving recycling and were second only behind Stockport council. While Stockport Council has retained its excellent recycling record Rochdale Council is now falling badly behind.

“When we Liberal Democrats took the borough to the top of the recycling tables in 2007 Labour continuously opposed our efforts.

“Now that they are in charge they make it perfectly clear that their commitment to the environment is non existent.’

Mark Widdup, Director of Operational Services at Rochdale Borough Council, said: “The figures for the year 2010/11 are not directly comparable with previous years as a new system of classifying recycling was introduced by DEFRA.

“Our recycling figures for 2010/11, which are the most up to date full year figures, have to be considered in the context that we, along with some other GM districts that recycle green waste without food waste, had half of their Green waste tonnages deducted for April to August 2010. This was due to a DEFRA decision to re-classify the shred and spread composting method as not being full recycling. Districts which collected food waste mixed with garden waste used in vessel composting for their organic waste did not suffer the same deductions so a like for like comparison is not possible.

“Without this deduction we would have been on 34 per cent continuing our steady improvement year on year.

“The council is totally committed to increasing recycling rates due to the environmental and financial benefits this will bring.

“For this reason we introduced our food waste collection service last autumn which is already proving very successful. We are also working proactively to increase recycling rates in specific parts of the borough; a recent project in Falinge has seen weekly recycling rates rocketing in just three months.”