Colchester Sets the Bar for Recycling Rates

Colchester has claimed third place for the best borough to improve recycling rates across England. Over of all the borough’s waste is being recycled or reused. Statistics released earlier this year, January 2019, by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs revealed that Colchester has had the third largest increase in household recycling rates throughout the country, in 2017-18. During which time, Colchester had recorded recycling rate of 55%, which was not only an 11% increase to the previous year, but also 10% over the official recycling rate for England in 2017. First place was secured by East Riding of Yorkshire Council, with a whopping rate of 64.5%. Colchester surpassed expectations, as the use of landfills as a means to dispose of waste has dropped to 33%. In June 2017, the Colchester Borough Council decided to reform its waste collection across the borough in order to encourage recycling and minimise the amount of waste which is sent to landfill sites. The changes mainly included decreasing the number of bin bags allowed per household, and altering the frequency of the waste collection, from weekly to fortnightly. Councillor Martin Goss from Colchester Borough Council, Portfolio Holder for Waste, Environment and Transportation, said, “There is still always more we can do and we’re continuously looking for ways to increase recycling and reduce waste and in recent months, we’ve introduced plastic recycling facilities to over 7,000 flats.” The DEFRA’s annual Local Authority Waste Statistics 2017-18 also ranked Colchester Borough Council as being in the top 15 local authorities with the lowest household waste per head that year. https://video.wixstatic.com/video/b525c0\_61fee5f0363d4a368635fe84bb5188e8/1080p/mp4/file.mp4