Big changes with recycling should be on their way in Rother soon

In your paper last week, there was a letter claiming that only 2% of our waste is recycled. Your readers may be interested to know that here in Rother our monthly figures show a different story. The average for recycling is around 50%. In June it was 52.85%. Only 0.5% goes to landfill. 46% goes to incineration.

It is true we could certainly do better and recycle more. One of the problems is that if a recycling load is contaminated, ie residents put non-recyclables in the wrong bin, it has to go to incineration. This is not the wrong type of plastic, but stuff like used nappies and pet bedding!

However, big changes should be on their way. We are waiting for the much delayed UK Environment Bill to be ratified. Among many initiatives, the Bill contains the ‘Extended Producer Responsibility’ requiring manufacturers to be responsible for recycling their own packaging.

The Bill also contains the ‘Deposit Return Scheme’ which honours the EU target of collecting 77% of single use bottles by 2023. It is proposed that UK retailers will therefore impose a deposit on top of the price of glass bottles, plastic bottles and cans.

Both these measures are long overdue and to be welcomed.

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