Figures released last week by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) reveal that Hampshire has topped the table for diverting domestic waste from landfill in the UK. Last year Project Integra, the partnership of all the authorities in Hampshire, Hampshire County Council, the unitary authorities of Portsmouth and Southampton, and the private waste contractor Veolia Environmental Services, successfully recovered energy from or recycled over 81% of its household waste.

This table topping performance is attributable to a recycling rate approaching 32% and three state of the art energy recovery facilities that enable the vast majority of waste that isn’t presently recycled to have energy generated from it. This energy is sufficient to power 40,000 homes. Unaudited figures for the current financial year, show that some authorities in Hampshire are continuing to improve their recycling performance towards 35%. In the medium term, an overall recycling achievement of 40% is something the partnership is aiming for as it continues to reduce reliance on landfill disposal to a minimum.

Improvements to recycling collections such as the introduction or extension of glass and garden waste collections, together with an increase in the number of authorities introducing alternate weekly collections, have all contributed to the rise in our recycling rate. In addition, improvements to the Household Waste Recycling Centre (HWRC) network including extensions to the sites at Segensworth and Basingstoke have not only make the service better for Hampshire householders, but increased the current HWRC recycling rate to almost 60%.

Paper, cardboard, drinks cans, food tins and plastic bottles can all be recycled easily through kerbside recycling collection schemes. Strong and stable markets have been set up for many of these items, explaining why the key driver in Hampshire is quality in order that we can pass on the best quality materials for reprocessing, and hence why certain items (such as hard plastics) are not acceptable because stable markets do not currently exist in the UK.

Steve Read, Executive Officer for Project Integra, said “ I’d like to thank all Hampshire residents for their huge commitment to recycling and composting. In 2006 we brought over a quarter of a million tonnes of useful material back into industrial production or to some other good use. Please keep up the good work and let’s make 2007 our best year yet for recycling.”

ENDS

For further information, please contact Steve Read on 01730 235806 or email steve.read@hants.gov.uk