Surrey Heath Recycling Rate set to fall

12.00.00am GMT Fri 16th Feb 2007

Lib Dems want doorstep recycling initiatives NOW, not in 2009!

Surrey Heath's achievement of the Government required recycling rate in 2006 has been revealed as a temporary "blip", with rates set to fall below target in 2007. The target recycling rate of 30% has only been achieved through the effects of the temporary closure of the Surrey County Council Waste amenity site in Wilton Road Camberley earlier in the year. Rates are then set to languish until 2009 whilst the Council chooses a new waster contractor!

In figures revealed in a meeting of Surrey Heath's Leisure & Environment Committee, the increase in the recycling rate of 5% in the year 2006/7 was attributed to three factors:

· Green waste recycling carried out whilst Wilton Road facility was closed

· Introduction of recycling collections from blocks of flats

· Introduction of the Green Waste Club

The effect of three factors is to enable Surrey Heath to just meet its recycling target of 30% imposed by the Government.

However, the increase of 5% corresponds approximately to an additional 1700 tonnes of recycled materials in the Borough, whilst the amount of material collected as a direct result of the closure of Wilton Road was 1200 tonnes. Whilst both the Flats recycling scheme and the Green Waste Club are expected to grow in take-up over the year, the amount of material recycled is unlikely to fully replace the effect of the Wilton Road closure. Without this "windfall" in 2007, recycling rates are likely to fall.

Beyond 2007, Surrey Heath is not planning to introduce any significant additional initiates, as its current refuse collection contract with Verdant is due for retendering in 2009. Recycling rates will accordingly languish until a new contractor is appointed.

Cllr Judy Douch, the environmental spokesperson for the Lib Dems in Surrey Heath said: "I am very concerned that we can expect little progress in recycling in Surrey Heath for years in the future. The declared Government target for 2010 is 40%. How on earth are we going to achieve that when we are only going to seriously start in 2009?"

Cllr Duncan Clark, Lib Dem parliamentary spokesperson in Surrey Heath said:" This is Conservative forward planning at its most typical. No wonder the financial affairs of the Council are in such a mess! If Lib Dems gain control of the Council in May, we are committed to taking forward a number of environmental initiatives in the short term to address this and other issues."