Recycle for Purbeck

In October 2005 the refuse and recycling services changed to the new Recycle for Purbeck Collection Service.  Households in Purbeck were  issued with a grey wheelie bin for non-recyclable rubbish and a green kerbside box for recyclable materials. Some households were already using green boxes to recycle. Under the new scheme in one week the green box is collected and on the following week the grey bin is collected.

 

Every household produces about one tonne of rubbish every year and the vast majority of this ends up in landfill sites. In Purbeck residents were recycling 16% of their household waste, which was above the national average but below the Government target of 30%. To help reduce the environmental problems caused by landfill sites the Government is increasing the charges to councils for using them.

 

By 2011 the tax on a tonne of rubbish will have risen from £15 to £35 and the Government plans to set limits on the amount of rubbish we can send to landfill and issue financial penalties for exceeding the quotas. This means it will cost at least £20 more to collect each household’s rubbish in future unless we work together to recycle more of our waste. This equates to a cost of £400,000 for Purbeck. We have a responsibility to our special environment and to future generations to reduce environmental problems.

 

Purbeck District Council had two main objectives in introducing the Recycle for Purbeck Collection service, to increase recycling rates in the district and to keep residents’ council tax at an acceptable level. The Recycle for Purbeck scheme is meeting the 30% target  –  and we are hopeful that this figure will be higher.  In the first month of the scheme, recycling rates across Purbeck almost doubled and we are now well on our way to achieving our long term aim of increasing overall recycling levels from 16 % to more than 30 %.

 

The Council hopes that everyone will support the scheme.