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Anger over 'recycling' waste burned or dumped
NEARLY 10,000 tonnes of waste put out for recycling in Yorkshire last year – enough to fill 851 bin lorries – ended up on tips or being burned.
In Kirklees, more than five per cent of all waste collected for recycling was rejected, while thousands of tonnes in Leeds and North Lincolnshire also ended up being dumped or burnt.
Last night there was anger as some of the blame was put on residents for throwing the wrong rubbish in their bins.
Councils insist only a small proportion of material for recycling was rejected – but with the threat of tougher Government recycling target and the prospect of huge landfill taxes they warned residents to take action.
Tory Shadow Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles said: "Families and pensioners now face heavy-handed fines for minor infringements like putting out rubbish on the wrong evening, with surveillance state technology out to catch them.
"With the gradual end of weekly collections, and over-zealous policies like 'no side' collections, it is increasingly difficult for families to dispose of their rubbish responsibly."
The chairman of the Local Government Association (LGA) environment board, Paul Bettison, said: "Britain is the dustbin of Europe, with more rubbish being thrown into landfill than any other country on the continent. For decades people have been used to being able to throw their rubbish away without worrying about the consequences. Those days are now over.
"Two thirds of all household rubbish can be recycled and unless people strive to recycle more in the right bins then there is a real danger that councils, and consequently the taxpayer, could face millions of pounds in landfill fines."
Official Government figures reveal that Leeds City Council collected 98,867 tonnes of waste for recycling or composting last year, but 3,764 tonnes was rejected and sent to landfill.
In Kirklees, 40,915 tonnes was collected, but 3,187 tonnes was rejected and burned instead, and in North Lincolnshire 37,923 tonnes was collected, and 2,080 tonnes rejected. Hundreds more tonnes were rejected by other councils.
Reasons for rejecting waste include the wrong sort of recyclables being mixed together, and recyclable waste being contaminated with material that cannot be reused.
Many councils also struggle to recycle shredded paper as they do not have the correct equipment. Containers such as yoghurt pots are another problem as there is no market for them currently.
The LGA said that nationally only one in 100 items was rejected and recycling rates had soared from seven per cent to 30 per cent since 1997, but it admitted there was still far more that needed to be done.
Unless councils cut the amount of waste send to landfill they will face a 3bn bill over the next three years in charges to the European Union and central Government.
A spokesman for Leeds City Council defended its policy.
He said: "Although it sounds a lot, the figure represents less than four per cent of the total amount of waste the council sends for recycling in Leeds and the amount has been dropping for some time.
"It is important that people put the correct kind of waste in their recycling bin and the council spends thousands of pounds every year educating people as to what can and can't be recycled, and we are seeing the number of 'rejected' loads go down."
A spokesman for Kirklees Council said the waste was rejected because it was "not suitable" for recycling and was sent to a waste-burning plant which produces energy instead.
A spokeswoman for North Lincolnshire Council praised local people for recycling more than 42 per cent of waste but added there were "rare" occasions when waste was rejected from the recycling process, such as when garden or kitchen waste was contaminated with non-compostable items or contained no air, making composting impossible.
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Friday 10 February 2012
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