We won’t let your rubbish go to waste!

Calderdale council want to reassure householders that none of their recyclable materials get dumped in overseas landfill sites.

The reassurances come after a TV programme urged residents to contact their local council and find out where their recycling really went.

The programme revealed that a large amount of recycling went to landfill sites abroad.

But in Calderdale nearly all waste paper is processed at Shotton, North Wales, glass in Barnsley, and anything that cannot be reused goes to tips in Rochdale, Oldham and Wakefield.

Council waste manager Malcolm Akroyd said: “The high price of steel and aluminium means there is huge demand for cans.

“And although plastic sometimes passes through many hands before it is reprocessed, we have the paperwork to show where it ends up.”

Concern has been growing about increasing amounts of waste being shipped to dumps in India and China and demands are growing for waste contractors to reveal how they handle the export of materials collected through UK recyling schemes.

Mr Akroyd said Sita UK, which collects the bulk of Calderdale waste, was required just like its predecessor, Focsa Services, to keep detailed accounts of what goes where.

Last year, 25 per cent of Calderdale waste was recycled and, when wheelie bins are introduced next February, that amount is expected to increase to 40 per cent.

Calderdale families recycle the equivalent of 100 empty wine bottles every year - double the West Yorkshire average.


Taken from the Halifax Evening Courier (17/09/08)