Northampton Borough Council could leap into top 100 of recycling league table

Northampton households appear to be helping the borough council leap into the top 100 authorities in the country for recycling.
Northampton is upping its game when it comes to recyclingNorthampton is upping its game when it comes to recycling
Northampton is upping its game when it comes to recycling

The percentage of household waste being recycled or composted was 44 per cent for 2018/19 across the town, but is forecast to improve to 49 per cent in 2019/20.

Should that figure come to fruition, it would put the council at a position of around 85th in the country’s league table – a massive leap on the 219th position it registered last year.

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Northampton Borough Council says the improvement is down to the new ‘all in one’ recycling service change, as well as a ‘better service delivery’.

Speaking about the figures at an overview and scrutiny meeting on Monday (September 30), cabinet member for the environment Councillor Mike Hallam said: “The increase in recycling has been one of the big positives of the change of contract [to Veolia].

“To move that far up the league table would be a tremendous result, as we would be in the top 100 when we weren’t even in the top 200 last year. We think the numbers could even get a little bit higher before levelling out.”

New initiatives in the last year include the introduction of wheelie bins to a number of new households in the town. According to the report presented by Councillor Hallam, around 3,000 properties were originally missed by former contract holder Enterprise and didn’t receive recycling bins even though their properties may have been suitable. More will be rolled out in the coming weeks, which the council says will ‘assist’ in increasing the recycling figures further.

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And a ‘Clear Sack’ trial being run in Far Cotton, which has replaced the recycling boxes, has shown an increased level of recycling ‘far higher’ than the average increase across the borough.

Councillor Hallam added: “This is a project we are looking to roll out further in areas that aren’t suitable for wheelie bins.”

Although the council was performing well on the recycling front, Councillor Hallam told the same council meeting that the authority was still struggling to stop an increasing amount of fly-tipping in the town.

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