No waste mountain here, says county

Jan 8 2009 by Dave Black, The Journal

FAMILIES in Northumberland have been urged to continue sorting their rubbish for recycling despite recent reports of a collapse in the market for recycled materials.

County council chiefs and waste management company Sita UK joined forces yesterday to stress there have been no cuts in the overall waste recycling target for Northumberland.

The partners say people should carry on recycling as normal – despite reports of mountains of recycled waste which cannot be sold and the fact that thousands of tonnes of waste paper collected from homes in County Durham is having to be stockpiled after the price of recycled paper collapsed.

Yesterday Sita admitted there had been a 2% cut in the target for recycled waste collected at its 13 household waste recovery centres in Northumberland, because of delays in securing a new centre to serve the Cramlington area.

But it says this has no impact on the overall target for recycling across the county and is not linked to the recent collapse of recycling markets.

Northumberland is currently achieving a recycling and composting rate for household waste of 41% – ahead of its target for 2008/9 of 38% – and is on course to exceed a Government-set target of 40% by 2010.

County executive member for environment and regeneration Coun Jim Smith said: “I would like to stress to all residents across Northumberland that they should continue to recycle as it is a vitally important issue for the environment and for the county council.

“There has been no reduction in the overall recycling target for the county and we are on course to comfortably exceed our targets for this year.”

General manager for Sita UK in Northumberland Richard Hinchcliffe said: “The recyclables collected in the county are not being stockpiled.

“We have excellent relationships with reprocessors at a local, regional and national level and have been working hard to ensure that the recyclables we collect are put to the best possible use in what has been a very tough market.”

Northumberland’s recycling targets get tougher each year as it looks to reduce further the amount of waste it sends to landfill.

The county council and Sita have a target of sending only 8% of waste to landfill by 2012, and are working together on a 28-year PFI waste contract which has secured £40.8m in Government funding.

The recyclables collected in the county are not being stockpiled