Sutton Council keeping waste down and savings up - Burstow

4.56.00pm UTC (GMT +0000) Tue 29th May 2007

Paul Burstow, MP for Sutton and Cheam, visited the Re-use and Recycling Centre at Kimpton Park Way last Thursday to see the work being done to keep at the top of London's recycling league.

Mr Burstow was shown a number of exciting initiatives during his visit which are helping to make Sutton greener than ever, while saving local residents money. Sutton Council is looking at innovative ways to avoid landfilling waste - something which is all the more important in the light of an £8 per tonne hike in the fee for sending waste to landfill.

The centre is offering residents the chance to take away up to four bags of compost for free, all they need to do is supply their own bags. By collecting, recycling and then sending green waste for processing, the centre reduced its waste output in 2006/7 by 7,500 tones. In the last year alone the plant managed to increase the amount it recycled by nearly 7%.

Secondly, the introduction of the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Regulations, enforceable as of July, requires waste electrical goods to be returned to the manufacturer or supplier for recycling. The Re-use and Recycling Centre will take in the electrical goods themselves, separate them and send them to be dismantled and then recycled.

Commenting on his visit Paul Burstow MP said:

"Sutton has long led the way with its green agenda. With the help and hard work of local people, Sutton has become one of London's top recycling boroughs."

"New initiatives such as processing green waste into compost will help us maintain and improve this record."

"In the light of a recent announcement from Gordon Brown that the charge for sending waste to land fill is to rise by a further £8 pounds per tonne, it is great to see that Sutton Council is taking steps to recycle more and pay less."

Notes to Editors:

1. Soil Improver

Residents bring recyclable items to the Council's Re-use and Recycling Centre at Kimpton Park Way, are able to take way up to four bags of soil improver. Residents are asked to provide their own reusable sacks, but shovels are provided by the container.

All green garden waste collected either through the council's kerbside collection service, or from the recycling containers at the Re-use & Recycling Centre, is processed By Viridor at their in-vessel composting plant in Beddington. The soil improver available for use comes from the processed green garden waste at the facility.

In 2006/2007 the council delivered over 7,500 tonnes of green garden waste to the Viridor facility for processing.

2. Household Waste Electrical & Electronic Equipment (WEEE)

The Government's WEEE Regulations introduce a new system for the management of WEEE in the UK from 1 July 2007. Historically in the UK, household WEEE has either not been separately collected from other forms of waste, or where it has been separately collected it has not been treated prior to reprocessing.

Sutton Council introduced a separate WEEE storage area at the Re-use & Recycling Centre during 2006, and began separating out household WEEE items delivered to the facility. Reprocessers for a variety of the household WEEE have been sourced, including a local community based project, and these arrange for the diverted items to be either re-used or dismantled. When items are dismantled by the reprocessers, they aim to dismantle all components, so that these can be sent for recycling.

The Kimpton Park Way facility has been registered as a Designated Collection Facility (DCF) for household WEEE and work is now continuing on appointing a registered contractor (from producer compliance scheme) who will be responsible for collecting Household WEEE items from selected DCF's within the region.