It's Really NOT Going to Landfill Say The Council
Fears that green waste is not being recycled are being dismissed
Ealing Council is seeking to reassure residents by telling them that no recycling is being sent to landfill - but is actually going to a sorting facility... in Kent.
Since the new contractors took over there have been numerous concerns after general waste vehicles appeared to be collecting recycling and 'mashing it' - as with general household rubbish.
This prompted fears that the carefully sorted recycling was being mixed in with general waste - and the final destination would be landfill.
Residents have been asking what exactly is going on and the Council has now issued a further, more detailed explanation:
''Enterprise is currently using two types of vehicles to collect recycling.
On some trucks different dry recycling materials, such as paper, cardboard, plastic and cans, are mixed together and sent to the Ideal Waste Paper materials recycling facility at Swanley, Kent where they are sorted before being recycled. Other vehicles are being used to collect items separately on some rounds, so residents are still being asked to sort their recycling.
Shoes, clothes, batteries and engine oil put out for recycling are being collected and stored separately on the recycling vehicles and then stored at Greenford depot before being sent for recycling.
Roger Jones, director for Environment and Leisure, said:
“We value residents’ commitment to recycling and want to reassure anyone who has been concerned by seeing their carefully sorted recycling being mixed together in a truck, that it is not going to landfill. Some mixed collections are being used to speed up rounds at the moment, but we will be returning to sorting as we collect because this provides higher quality recycling that has more uses.”
Visit www.ealing.gov.uk to find out what happens to recycling once it is collected.''
24th April 2012
