Recycling rates have increased

Neil Maver (Recycling Manager), Councillor Jacqui Beswick and Martin Taylor (Head of Environmental Management)

Early analysis shows that Rochdale recycling rates increased in the borough to 49.6% during November.

During the same month last year 35.9% of waste was recycled, meaning that everyone is recycling more since the changes to the waste and recycling service was introduced.

Over 5,300 new recycling bins delivered to households since September.

The new service sees general waste and other recyclable materials collected on a three-weekly cycle and will help the council save at least £1million a year in waste disposal costs.

As the council needs to save £37 million over the next two years, the savings from the new service will help protect other essential public services.

Councillor Jacqui Beswick, Rochdale Borough Council’s Cabinet Member for Environment, said: “The response to the new bin collection service has been fantastic and the early signs show that we are recycling more of our food waste.

"I know that it has been a big change but this shows how the new service can make a real difference to our historically low recycling rates and help us to reduce the massive waste processing and disposal costs that we are currently faced with.

"Monthly recycling rates are affected by seasonal shopping habits and the weather which means no two months are the same. So we shouldn’t be complacent because if we are to continue with this initial success we need everyone to recycle their waste and play their part in contributing to the savings we make’.’

Households can now recycle all cooked and uncooked food, including leftovers. This means food waste like meat, fish, bones and vegetable peelings can now all be recycled instead of going in general rubbish bins. This will help reduce smells from the rubbish bin and create more space for the things residents cannot yet recycle.

With food making up a third of the waste in the rubbish bin by weight, introducing food recycling on a weekly basis will help the council meet its annual recycling target of 45% by March 2017.