Tower block residents can go on recycle path

Residents of the high-rise blocks in the Armley and Wortley areas are the latest to benefit as part of a plan to ensure easy access to recycling facilities for everyone in the city.

Recycling centres have been set up outside Clyde Court and Clyde Grange in Armley and at Wortley Towers and Heights in Wortley.

It will mean people living in nearly 400 flats will be able to place plastics, paper, card and cans in bins just outside their buildings to be taken away for processing for re-use.

There are also mixed glass containers for bottles, jars and other recyclable glass items.

Leeds City Council's head of waste management, Susan Upton, said: "We're aiming to get as many people as possible recycling across Leeds so we need to make it as easy as possible for them to do so.

"Our target is to recycle half of all the household waste Leeds produces by the year 2020 and this will go a long way towards this by reducing the amount of rubbish we send to landfill."

In areas too inaccessible for green bins, solutions include green bag collections and communal recycling. Communal recycling is already in place in parts of Little London and other areas are also in line for improvements soon.

The council set up the Armley and Wortley facilities in partnership with West North West Homes Leeds.

Research by the authority has shown that around 40 per cent of the total weight of Leeds households' black bins is food waste.

This waste, which could could amount to as much as 40,000 tonnes a year, is currently sent to landfill sites.