Uttlesford Council Has 6th Best Recycling Rate in UK

11.23.00pm GMT Mon 10th Nov 2008

Party President Baroness Ros Scott and Ed Davey MP present Uttlesford Liberal Democrats with an award for their environmental initiatives.

According to statistics published by DEFRA on November 6th, Uttlesford District Council has achieved the sixth best recycling rate in the country. Cllr Peter Wilcock, Liberal Democrat Group Leader said, "These figures vindicate the investment in the three wheelie bin recycling system that the Council's then Lib Dem administration made in 2006/7. I congratulate the local residents whose enthusiastic participation has made this result possible - protecting the environment and saving landfill tax at the same time."

The annual local authority recycling league table, compiled by the DEFRA, shows that, out of 273 waste collection authorities, Uttlesford District Council has:

• the 2nd best rate (34.7%) for dry recycling (paper, card, plastics, tin cans, glass and textiles);

• the 6th best rate (54.5%) for dry recycling plus composting (as above plus food and garden waste);

• the 12th lowest weight of waste to landfill per household (422 Kg);

• the 10th most improved dry recycling and composting rate (up from 42.8% to 54.5% in a year).

The figures are based on domestic waste collected between April 2007 and March 2008:

http://www.defra.gov.uk/environment/statistics/wastats/bulletin08.htm

Cllr Catherine Dean, Liberal Democrat Environment spokesperson, added "I am delighted not only that the amount of recycled waste has gone up, but also that there is less waste overall being collected. This is a trend which the Council should encourage. The first principle of waste management is Reduce then Reuse then Recycle."

Commenting on the figures, County Cllr Ian Gale said: "We have been repeatedly told by the Conservative administration at Essex County Council, that massive waste disposal plants that burn waste are essential as we will continue to produce more and more waste. The government's figures, and indeed the county's own figures, show that this is nonsense.

"Local residents have made a fantastic effort to recycle more of their household rubbish leaving far less for councils to have to dispose of than before. This is likely to continue as there is plenty more scope to improve recycling rates and we will produce less and less waste.

"The Conservative's plan to spend an estimated £5 billion pounds over a contract of 25-30 years to treat and burn waste in Essex is a waste of money. With just a fraction of that spend on more recycling, the county council can dramatically reduce the amount of waste it has to deal with, making the need for large waste plants unnecessary."