Council fights back over paper’s landfill rate claim

However, Peterborough council has claimed that it is, in fact, the top recycler among English unitary authorities, with a 2007 rate of 46.6% of waste being recycled or composted and a target to reach 65% by 2020.

It claims that the 11% figure quoted by the newspaper referred to the proportion of material sent to landfill or incinerated because they were either not recyclable or were so contaminated they could not be recycled.

In a letter to the newspaper seen by Packaging News, councillor Wayne Fitzgerald, cabinet member for the environment at Peterborough council, said: “Peterborough City Council is committed to recycling 65 per cent of household waste by 2020, so it is in the council’s interest to continue diverting materials from landfill to recycling outlets.

“Despite the current downturn in markets, Peterborough continues to send all recyclable materials to reprocessors. Peterborough – like all other local authorities – is totally committed to recycling and its officers continue to educate the minority of residents who persist in putting non-recyclable waste in recycling bins.”

The Telegraph’s article comes at a time when the market for recyclable materials is struggling due to a collapse in demand from the Far East, in particular China’s decision earlier in 2008 to stop buying many waste materials from the UK and elsewhere.

As a result, some councils are stockpiling recyclable waste in the hope that the market will recover.

Popular Articles