St Albans residents beating targets for district recycling

REDUCE, reuse, recycle seems to be the motto for residents in the St Albans district as latest figures reveal recycling rates are continuing to improve.

Residents in the district recycled 50.32 per cent of household waste for 2009/2010, beating the target of 50 per cent by 2010/2011 ahead of schedule.

Council offices are also doing their bit to reduce their environmental impact and have cut the amount of waste they are sending to landfill by five tonnes.

Individual bins for staff have been removed at the Civic Centre and the Old Town Hall and communal bins for paper, cardboard, cans and plastics and general waste have replaced them. That has seen the recycling rate at the offices more than double from 21 per cent to 57 per cent in the last six months.

The reduction in waste sent to landfill cuts costs for the council and it’s expected that as of January, �5,318 will be saved annually because of the recycling at the council offices alone.

Councillor Melvyn Teare, portfolio holder for environment and sustainability, said: “Residents and council staff should be congratulated on their recycling efforts, which have helped to reduce the amount of waste being sent to landfill in the district. I urge everyone to continue to recycle as much as they can.”