"Recycling is getting easier in the city. We are providing more opportunities to recycle through extra services and hope that people take advantage of these as much as possible"
Cllr Julie Brociek-Coulton, executive member for citizen services
Norwich, England: Norwich City Council has collected a "massive" 7,500 tonnes of recycling from across the city since April 2007. This has boosted the council’s recycling rate from 18.4% to nearly 25%, over the same period. Although starting from a relatively low base level, Norwich has beaten its target of 20% for recycling, way-ahead of the date set of March 2008.
An important development has been the introduction of alternate weekly collections in some parts of the city. The new service has extended the materials that are able to be collected for recycling from the kerbside and covers plastic bottles, paper and card, tins and cans, and glass. The system uses blue wheeled bins for the storage and collection of recyclables.
The City Council says that recycling rates are up from 21.6% in quarter two of this year (July-September), to 24.7% in October. The scheme started in the south and west of the city in October this year, and the increase in the recycling rate in the first month of collections augurs well for the future.
Cllr Julie Brociek-Coulton, executive member for citizen services and a Labour representative for the council’s waste working party, said:
“I would like to say a big well done and thank you to everyone in the city who is recycling - every little really does help.
"Recycling is getting easier in the city. We are providing more opportunities to recycle through extra services and hope that people take advantage of these as much as possible."
Councils around the country which have introduced alternate weekly collections have an average 30% recycling rate, with all councils in the top ten using this system. This is compared to an average of just 23% for councils who have weekly collections, according to Norwich.
Another string to the Norwich recycling bow is that next financial year, the council will be offering its garden waste collection service to more people across the city.
The City Council says that the scheme has proved “hugely successful” in the pilot areas of Crome and Eaton, collecting around 400 tonnes of garden waste in its first six months of operation from April 2007.
Norwich City Council has a long term target of recycling 32% of waste by 2010 and being among the best councils in the country for recycling in 2012.
The Council plans to introduce alternate weekly to more homes across the city during 2008, with the north and east of the City next to get the new service in May/June 2008.