News from Peterborough City Council

Peterborough residents are today being congratulated for helping to maintain the city's position as the top recycler among England's unitary councils for the second year in succession.

 

Figures just released by the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs confirm that Peterborough's success in recycling and composting 46.6 per cent of household and garden materials in 2007/08 puts it top of the unitary authority league table.  In 2006/07 Peterborough's figure was 43.75 per cent.

 

Councillor Wayne Fitzgerald, Cabinet member for the environment at Peterborough City Council, said:  "This is great news.  It shows that local residents are enthusiastic users of the city council's three-bin kerbside collection system and the Dogsthorpe householders' recycling centre.

 

"We calculate that our recycling and composting rate is now over 50 per cent, thanks to the inclusion of glass bottles and jars in household green recycling bins since March, so we hope to retain our record in the current year.  We cannot afford to relax our efforts, though, as we pursue our target to raise the combined recycling and composting rate to over 65 per cent."

 

The figures also reveal that local residents are supporting efforts to reduce the amount of waste being generated.  Total waste produced per head of population has fallen by 2.7 per cent from 587 kilograms in 2006/07 to 570.70 kilograms last year.

 

Peterborough generated a total of 102,043 tonnes of municipal waste and recyclable materials in 2007/08.  Peterborough's 74,567 households produced 19,273 tonnes (20.68 per cent) of 'dry' recyclables and 24,175 tonnes (25.94 per cent) of garden materials that were composted.  Household waste totalling 48,916 tonnes (52.48 per cent) was landfilled.

 

All local authorities are under pressure to reduce waste and increase recycling rates to comply with European Union environmental protection laws requiring big cuts in the amount of biodegradable materials being landfilled.

 

Despite its growing population, Peterborough must reduce volumes of biodegradable rubbish being landfilled to just 34,135 tonnes 75 per cent of 1995 levels by 2009/10.  The target reduces to 22,736 tonnes (50 per cent of the 1995 total) by 2012/13 and to just 15,909 tonnes (35 per cent of the 1995 total) by 2019/20.

 

Failure to hit the targets will incur fines of £150 for every tonne of 'over target' rubbish being landfilled.  In addition, the UK government's landfill tax is increasing in £8 annual increments from £24 per tonne last year to £48 per tonne in 2010/11.  For more information visit: www.65percentplus.co.uk. 

 

The nearest unitary authority rivals to Peterborough's recycling and composting record are: York 43.37 percent; North Lincolnshire 43.3 per cent; Bath and North-East Somerset 42.94 per cent; and South Gloucestershire 42.27 per cent.  Full figures are available at the Defra website: http://www.defra.gov.uk/news/2008/081106b.htm.