Recycling - the End of the Line?

1.14.16pm GMT Mon 15th Dec 2003

The future of recycling in north Bedfordshire is on a knife edge following a stand off between the borough and county councils over the future of the primary sorting line.

Under County Council plans the primary sorting line, used to separate orange bags from the rest the household waste, will close next October, affecting those areas that are on the old weekly orange bag collection. This will mean thousands of homes will lose the opportunity to recycle their waste and make the government's tough recycling targets even harder to achieve.

Speaking on the issue, Lib Dem group leader Michael Headley said:

"Recycling is seriously under threat in the borough. If the primary sorting line goes as planned next October it will mean that thousands of people will no longer be able to see their waste recycled. Either the borough needs to roll out its new scheme more widely or the county have to hold off their plans. This can only be sorted if both councils get together and put an end to this stand off for the benefit of local people. As it stands the County Council won't back down over their plans to end the primary sorting line and the Borough Council have refused to make a decision on the roll out of the scheme from next October to compensate for it. Both the borough council executive and the environment committee have had the opportunity to make a decision on it but both have avoided doing so.

I believe that the new recycling and composting scheme should be rolled out to all households by October anyway. More importantly though local people should be allowed to have their say on the details of the new scheme, particularly on how often they want recycling collections. After all they are the ones who pay the bill and do the recycling. I have suggested that the council provide residents of the borough with a fully costed list of options for recycling as part of a consultation.

If we are serious about recycling in the borough we must be prepared to mark this out as a priority. It's vital that recycling becomes more accessible not less so if we to reach government targets. If the stand off drags on it will be too late to do anything. We face a real prospect of all the good work that's been achieved on recycling being undone."