With an integrated approach to waste management, Project Integra takes recycling and waste minimisation very seriously. Integra’s statistics show a commitment to provide the best possible collection and recycling systems to suit the needs of people living within Hampshire’s boundaries.

Throughout Hampshire, over 90% of households have access to a kerbside collection of recyclable materials. Regardless of the collection type, be it through the use of wheeled bins or boxes, plastic sacks or carrier bags, each scheme is designed with the householder in mind, and many different types of material are collected for recycling.

As a quick reminder, for the majority of households, all newspapers and magazines, cardboard and junk mail, aluminium and steel food and drink cans and plastic bottles can be set out for collection at the kerbside.

What happens next? Collected material is delivered to a Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) where the recyclables are separated by a series of hand and machine sorting processes linked by conveyors. The materials are then bundled up and sold to recycling processors to be made into new products.

Project Integra has long term contracts in place with reprocessors for all the material that is currently collected. All newspapers and magazines are reprocessed into new newsprint, which within seven days of being collected, can be back on the shelves as new newspapers! In fact, over 100,000 tonnes of paper recycled over the past five years from Hampshire's Project Integra have passed through the UK's largest paper mill, UPM-Kymmene (UK) Ltd's Shotton Paper mill.

"This is a fantastic achievement and serves to highlight the extraordinary recycling success from the unique approach and foresight taken by all the Councils of Hampshire through Project Integra" commented John Viviani, UK Fibre Purchasing Manager for UPM-Kymmene (UK) Ltd, as the 100,000th tonne arrived at Shotton. John Viviani added "Project Integra's success has placed Hampshire at the top of the UK's recycling league table, and with another new recycling facility now being built at Alton, Hampshire's recycling rate will take a further huge leap forward as they seek to keep apace of the ever growing waste generated by us all. We at UPM Shotton look forward to building upon our long-term partnership with the Councils of Hampshire and Project Integra and support their drive towards ever higher recycling rates"

The Portsmouth MRF currently receives most of the recyclable material collected from households in Hampshire – currently around 70,000 tonnes a year. Due to the increased demand for recycling by residents, and the expansion of collection schemes by local authorities, plans are in place to open an additional MRF near Alton during 2004, which will enable a combined 157,000 tonnes of recyclables to be sorted each year.

However, this is only the start. Within Hampshire, there are 26 Household Waste Recycling Centres (HWRCs), where people can bring their bulky household items for reuse or recycling. Old furniture as well as a range of other items including newspapers and magazines, textiles, glass, engine oil and green garden waste can be taken to these sites.

As much as possible is sold for reuse or is recycled and as a result, the HWRC network contributes almost 50% towards Hampshire’s recycling rate. Green garden waste is taken to composting sites in Hampshire and is eventually bagged up and sold as an organic soil conditioner called Pro-Grow.

Additionally, there is a network of over 1,600 recycling banks throughout the Hampshire region. These sites can be used for items not currently accepted by collection schemes, such as glass bottles and jars and textiles. Garth Ward of the Salvation Army's trading company explained, "We have worked closely with the Project Integra partnership for a number of years and Hampshire is one of the most important areas in the UK for us. We collect textiles from the banks at least once a week to be sorted into hundreds of different grades and categories. The sorted items are sold on to a variety of markets and the funds raised are used to support our activities here in the UK. We continue to pay tribute to the Councils and residents in Hampshire for their commitment to recycling".

Project Integra has recently entered a new contract arrangement with Midland Glass Reprocessing Company to reprocess all of the glass collected from the bottle banks in Hampshire. This contract has resulted in the opening of a new glass reprocessing facility in Southampton docks which will reduce the distance that glass bottles and jars will need to be transported by road, and also create new jobs. Tim Gent, Contracts Director of the Midland Glass Reprocessing Company said, "Being able to partner the Hampshire authorities for a long term contract for the supply of glass has made it possible for us to invest in the purpose built sorting plant in Southampton. This houses the most modern glass colour sorting equipment anywhere in Europe. We were able to deal directly with Officers from the Project Integra partnership who had authority to negotiate on behalf of all the Hampshire Authorities. This would not have been possible on this scale elsewhere in the UK"

With a current recycling rate of around 21%, almost twice the national average, and new Government targets to increase this up to 40% within the next few years, expansion of recycling schemes has happened at a rapid rate. The Government has recently made an additional £76 million available from the National Waste Minimisation and Recycling Fund for local authorities in England and Wales. Over £5 million has been received for projects in Hampshire, which will result in new infrastructure and additional new schemes over the forthcoming year.

To manage the amounts of material collected for recycling is complex, especially with the increasing demand from higher public participation. There is clearly a need to ensure that there are sufficient processing facilities in place. However, for a short period towards the end of last year, more materials were being collected for recycling than were able to be reprocessed in Hampshire.

This situation has now been resolved with additional MRF capacity in Essex and Reading being used in the short term until the MRF at Alton is available. Once this is operational, MRF capacity will be more than sufficient in Hampshire to meet forecast demand.

There has also been a recent short term problem with reprocessing some of the green waste mainly due to the need to ensure that it is not contaminated with other material, thus rendering it unusable. In addition, the composting plant at Down End in Fareham has also been working at reduced capacity because difficulties over odours from the plant have affected local residents. New outlets for green waste composting in Hampshire are being investigated, to provide sufficient capacity to meet projected demands.

Hampshire was hailed as an example of good practice for it’s partnership approach to waste management in a recent government strategy report "Waste Not Want Not". In addition, in 2000 – 2001, the first year of the awards, Project Integra was attributed "Beacon Council status" in the category "sustainable development - dealing with waste".

Project Integra couldn’t achieve these results without the support of Hampshire residents, so please continue to recycle as much as possible.