Merseyside recycling figures up
Latest figures reveal that Merseyside has increased its recycling by almost 30% in ten years.
Statistics from Merseyside Waste Disposal Authority’s 2009 Annual Plan show that at the last count the region was recycling 33.3% of its household rubbish. In comparison, in 1999 the region’s recycling rate was just 6.74%, with 93% of rubbish being sent to landfill.
Further positive news shows that the amount of waste being generated by each Merseyside household has decreased by almost 75kg since last year. The region is also sending 217,331 tonnes less a year to landfill than it was ten years ago.
However, waste officials have also sounded caution about the scale of the task still in hand.
Councillor Kevin Cluskey, Chairperson of Merseyside Waste Disposal Authority (MWDA), said: “We’re very pleased with the ongoing improvement in recycling rates. In ten years we’ve gone from six percent to thirty-three percent. This shows that only a short time ago there was just too much material being sent to landfill. The work that has been done by all the local authorities over the last few years has made a big difference.
“Perhaps more significant are the figures which show that Merseyside households are producing less waste year on year, and this is interesting as we really need to decrease the amount of material being sent to landfill. There are so many items that could be recycled or reused, or could generate energy, but they simply end up buried in the ground.
“Admittedly the Merseyside Districts still lag behind some other areas of the country, but with continuing investment in facilities, further education, communication and perseverance we can see a brighter future.”
The way recycling rates are monitored has changed over the last year, with a set of National Indicators replacing the previous Best Value Performance Indicators. This way all Local Authorities and Local Authority Partnerships are measured by the same standard.
Compared to last year the 14 Household Waste Recycling Centres (HWRCs) in the region saw a small increase in recycling from 21.69% to 22.6%. However there were fractional decreases in the amount of material composted and reused. The overall rate is at 50.52%, compared to 50.94% in 2007/08.
MWDA is anticipating a potentially significant increase in recycling at its HWRCs as it has recently implemented a Permit Scheme for vans at its Wirral sites. The scheme is designed to stop commercial traders from illegally using the sites. It will be evaluated in 2010 and possibly rolled out to the other 11 HWRCs throughout Merseyside.
Carl Beer, Director of MWDA, said: “The way some of these statistics are collected has changed, so in some instances it’s hard to compare like-for-like. It’s obvious though that the people of Merseyside are continuing to increase what they recycle and at the same time generate less waste altogether. This is great news but we can’t lose sight of the fact that we are still producing too much waste and need to find alternative methods of disposal.”
The MWDA Annual Plan has also shown that for the period 2008/09 there were 71 visits provided for the local community under the Authority’s Education and Awareness Programme. 1738 visitors were engaged with, including schools, local voluntary groups and businesses. MWDA also supported the Liverpool Community College BTEC course in fashion, providing sponsorship of their annual fashion show.
Kevin Cluskey continued: “A lot of things have a value when they’re seemingly finished with and that value will be lost if they’re sent to landfill. There are only so many resources on the planet, and only so much room for landfill, so the region needs to carry on its positive efforts.”
Other 2008/09 achievements celebrated in the MWDA Annual Plan include:
The Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) in Wirral passing the 100,000 tonnes processed mark.
The launch of www.recycleformerseysideandhalton.com.
Planning permission for a new MRF in Gillmoss, Liverpool.
Using 250,000 old car tyres to develop Sefton Meadows Household Waste Recycling Centre in Maghull.
Merseyside’s overarching Joint Waste Strategy aim is to increase recycling performance to 44% by 2020.
