Manchester Recycling Rates Decrease?
Greetings,
Disappointingly, especially given all the work MCC appear to be doing to reduce climate change, this article suggests some integrity may be lacking. It appears that due to a DEFRA reclassification (quite rightly DEFRA are saying you can't count mashed up household bulky waste and street sweepings going to landfill cover) that the total volume of recorded waste being recycled in Greater Manchester has actually decreased last year by as much as 5%! This is due to MCC wrongly counting landfill as 'recycling'! What next?!?
To offset the news that they've been 'comingling' their recycling figures (puns intended) Manchester City Council assures us that actually the level of recycling across the city is continuing to increase year on year... They project that actually the level of recycled waste has risen from 20.28% in 2008 to 21.06% this year. Can we believe them? Let's hope so... Perhaps the Audit Commission should be working out Local Authorities recycling rates for them?
At EMERGE we know only too well that it's hard to engage the public in committing to recycling, but fudging the numbers just doesn't help anyone. Ideally the public need reassurance that what they sort for recycling genuinely doesn't go to waste and arguably they need incentives (such as charges for disposal and free recycling?) as well as smart recycling systems to make it easy and convenient...
Meanwhile some big names (Stella Artois, Coca Cola for example) are now promoting their recycling efforts on billboards and bus stops in Manchester - efforts like this will surely help Manchester and its residents to continue to increase its recycling rates.
Onwards & upwards!
Lucy
Disappointingly, especially given all the work MCC appear to be doing to reduce climate change, this article suggests some integrity may be lacking. It appears that due to a DEFRA reclassification (quite rightly DEFRA are saying you can't count mashed up household bulky waste and street sweepings going to landfill cover) that the total volume of recorded waste being recycled in Greater Manchester has actually decreased last year by as much as 5%! This is due to MCC wrongly counting landfill as 'recycling'! What next?!?
To offset the news that they've been 'comingling' their recycling figures (puns intended) Manchester City Council assures us that actually the level of recycling across the city is continuing to increase year on year... They project that actually the level of recycled waste has risen from 20.28% in 2008 to 21.06% this year. Can we believe them? Let's hope so... Perhaps the Audit Commission should be working out Local Authorities recycling rates for them?
At EMERGE we know only too well that it's hard to engage the public in committing to recycling, but fudging the numbers just doesn't help anyone. Ideally the public need reassurance that what they sort for recycling genuinely doesn't go to waste and arguably they need incentives (such as charges for disposal and free recycling?) as well as smart recycling systems to make it easy and convenient...
Meanwhile some big names (Stella Artois, Coca Cola for example) are now promoting their recycling efforts on billboards and bus stops in Manchester - efforts like this will surely help Manchester and its residents to continue to increase its recycling rates.
Onwards & upwards!
Lucy
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