| Lichfield District Council Lichfield District Council reported a recycling rate of 46% for 2005/06. This was the highest recycling rate in the West Midlands placing the Council in the top ten performing UK local authorities with the highest recycling / composting rates.
Details Lichfield District is situated north of Birmingham on the border of South Staffordshire and the West Midlands. It is comprised of two main urban areas, Lichfield City and Burntwood, as well as many smaller rural communities. Lichfield DC provide kerbside collection of dry recyclables to a total of 41,000 households. The service was introduced in 2002 following a consultation with district residents. 80% of respondents indicated that the dry recyclables and compostables collections should be expanded, and that more material sorted into separate sacks or boxes. One of the most frequently cited comments was that plastic recycling would benefit both the community and the environment. 2 kerbside boxes have been provided to residents for the co-mingled collection of dry recyclables. A large 55 litre box is used for plastic bottles, glass bottles and jars, food and drink cans and textiles and a smaller 38 litre box is used for the collection of cardboard and paper. Using a larger box or two separate boxes for the collection of plastic bottles and other recyclable material allows the householder to maximise the use of space, and increase the volumes that can be collected. Dry recyclables are collected weekly using a twin compartment RCV. These vehicles have two separate compartments for the different boxed recyclables, enabling the two streams to be kept separate. Collections of residual waste are made fortnightly, on alternate weeks with green waste using 240 litre coloured wheeled bins. LDC is in partnership with five neighbouring districts for the reprocessing of dry recyclables. The dry recyclables are and transported to the waste transfer station at Burntwood for bulking and baling. From here they are transported to the Greenstar Recycling site at Darwen (formerly R U Recycling) where they are automatically sorted in separate streams and baled for sale. Revenue is obtained as a proportion of the sales value from the contractor and is used to offset gate fees for the baling service. Throughout the implementation of the scheme, a communications and media campaign was launched to increase awareness and encourage participation. Roadshows and community presentations as well as leaflets helped to reinforce recycling messages. These messages are promoted in the Council Newsletter and through talks to schools and organisations and through leaflets and recycling warden visits. It was identified that some areas of the district, a total of 6,500 households, were not covered by the new scheme, due to access constraints and the cost of providing specialist collections for these areas. In 2003 Lichfield DC received Round 2 funding through the DEFRA National Waste Minimisation and Recycling Fund (NWMRF) to introduce kerbside collection of dry recyclables, including plastic bottles to more rural properties and ‘difficult to reach’ households, for example high rise flats and sheltered housing. This meant that an equitable service was in operation across the whole of the district. The funding was used to set up a network of ‘eco-boxes’ – mini recycling centres, comprising of several standard 240 or 360 litre wheeled bins, each in a different colour outer plastic casing to serve 1,500 multi occupancy dwellings. In addition, 5,000 38 litre and 5,000 55 litre boxes were purchased for weekly dry recyclables collection from 5,000 remote households. Similarly these boxes are colour coded according to material type. Leaflets were provided with the containers informing residents how to sort and present their waste and recyclables and on site visits were made to landlord and wardens of multi occupancy dwellings. Overall in 2004/5 a total of 270 tonnes of plastic bottles were collected from all areas of the district. This is equivalent to 6.91kg/hh/an, almost 2 kg above UK average performance. “Our scheme is very successful and we put this down to: Lichfield DC were awarded Beacon Status for waste and recycling in 2006. Further information www.lichfielddc.gov.uk |
