Recycling rates boosted by Harrogate Borough Council’s improved recycling service

The Harrogate district is recycling more domestic waste that ever before according to the latest figures from Harrogate Borough Council.

Recycling rates exceeded 39 per cent for the period between October to December 2013 (quarter 3), an increase of over 9 per cent when compared to the same period last year. The overall annual domestic recycling rate for the district is projected to reach 42 per cent by the end of March 2014, a year on year rise by over 7 per cent.

Recycling rates have been boosted by an alternate wheeled bin/recycling service, which was introduced across the district between July 2012 and August 2013, with the intention of providing a better kerbside recycling for over 62,000 homes. The types of materials eligible for recycling (glass bottles, jars, metal cans and paper) have been expanded to include plastic bottles and card.

Improved recycling as a result of the alternate weekly service is already reducing the amount of waste sent to landfill, and helping bring down crippling landfill costs and taxes. Since July 2012 the service has helped achieve savings to the tax payer of over £724,000 per year.

Councillor Phil Ireland, Harrogate Borough Council’s Cabinet Member for the Environment expressed his gratitude to the households who have embraced the scheme: I would like to thank everyone who has supported the wheeled bin/recycling alternate weekly service.

Our domestic recycling policy is benefitting the environment, but also the community. It has helped us to achieve substantial cost savings, enabling the Council to produce a balanced budget for 2013/14, while allowing Cabinet to recommend freezing council tax levels for a fifth successive year.

Since the introduction of the wheeled bin/recycling alternate weekly service we have seen very healthy increases in domestic recycling, culminating in the 9 per cent year on year rise for the October to December period, while the overall annual domestic recycling is projected to exceed 40 per cent for the first time – a fantastic achievement.

But we want to improve on these figures even further – to reinforce the importance of recycling on the environment and to achieve even greater savings for the council tax payer.