Well done Hackney! Boost in recycling rates after fortnightly waste collections introduced
Thirty two additional lorry loads of waste are now being recycled instead of thrown away each month, following the introduction of fortnightly waste collections in Hackney in March - with the vast majority of residents working hard to recycle more and throw away less .
While the change only affected street-level properties, not blocks of flats or estates, this has brought the borough’s recycling rate up to 30.4%. The recycling rates at the street-level properties affected by the changes rose by 7% to 46.4%.
These changes mean that around an additional 190 tonnes of waste is now recycled and turned into new products and materials each month instead of being incinerated.
When fortnightly waste collections were introduced, all households were given 180 litre wheelie bins, which all waste must fit into every fortnight. Additional bins are available for large families or families with babies.
To help residents further understand the changes and increase recycling rates, a team of doorknockers has visited 26,500 households in the borough over the past few months, as part of the Council’s commitment to engage and support residents to recycle more.
In addition, the Council’s recycling behaviour change team has made 3,500 visits to households to support those that have required further information on using recycling services, including how to use the food waste service, recycle the correct materials and reduce waste in their wheelie bin.
The Council’s behaviour change team will continue to visit properties that need additional support with recycling, and from this week will start to issue a formal notice under the Environmental Protection Act to the small minority of households that continue not to recycle all they can or store bins on their property. This is aimed at encouraging everyone will help ensure that everyone is doing everything they can to recycle.
If this engagement does not change behaviour, the Council will also begin to issue community protection notices to landlords and households that persistently present excessive quantities of waste or recycle incorrectly.
In order to keep pavements as accessible as possible, wheelie bins have, in most cases, only been provided where there is space to store them off the pavement. The Council will now also start to issue removal notices to properties that persistently store wheelie bins on the pavement unnecessarily.
We’ve always been clear that this change was about increasing the amount we all recycle, so I’d like to congratulate Hackney residents on these incredible results - which is seeing more of Hackney’s waste recycled into something new. We all have a duty to take care of our waste and recycling and I’m so proud of the vast majority of households that are doing so.
We want to build on these changes, so, in addition to the doorknocking and visits we have completed in the last few months, we will start to issue notices to households that could be throwing away less waste and making more use of their unlimited recycling allowance.
Find out more about the changes at hackney.gov.uk/waste-changes.