Councillor Feryal Demirci visits a Hackney resident to explain changes to recycling (pic: Sean Pollock)
Hackney residents living in street level properties, flats above shops and on low-rise estates will see changes to their recycling system implemented this week, as single-use green sacks replace green boxes used for collecting dry recyclables.
Hackney London Borough Council will implement the changes on Friday (1 March), after having been awarded £1.3 million of funding from the Department for Communities and Local Government.
Under the changes, the recycling system will switch from May Gurney’s weekly source-separated green box collection to an in-house, weekly co-mingled, single-use sack collection, with material sorted at a materials recovery facility (MRF).
May Gurney staff will reportedly be transferred to the council contract as part of the changes.
The new system will also see food waste collections expanded to a further 30,000 properties (on estates).
It is hoped that the new sack system will ‘make the service easier to use, quicker to collect and greener for everyone’ (as the sacks will prevent litter blowing away when left out for collection).
Hackney London Borough Council has said that it hopes the new recycling method will increase the area’s current recycling rate of 25 per cent to 34 per cent by 2020, whilst saving taxpayers £12 million.
Councillor Fefryal Demirci, Cabinet Member for Neighbourhoods, said: "We've made a lot of progress since first introducing recycling in Hackney, but to recycle more we need to provide collections for as many residents as possible and make recycling even easier for everyone.
“[The new service] will also help to save money, reducing landfill costs by millions of pounds which can be reinvested in services", Demirci added.
The service has been in place in the Cazenove ward since September 2011. According to the council, the Cazenove trial found that 64 per cent of residents preferred the sack system to the green box system (as it was deemed ‘easier’ to do), missed collections were reduced by up to 92 per cent, and collection times more than halved.
It is hoped that the 14,000 households that were unable to use the green box service due to storage issues will now be able to take up the service using the new sacks.
Read more about Hackney’s new recycling scheme.
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How will the government and DMOs address the challenges of including glass in DRS while ensuring a level playing field across the UK?
There's no easy solution to include glass in the DRS while maintaining a level playing field. Potential approaches include a phased introduction of glass, potentially with higher deposits to reflect its logistical challenges. The government and DMOs could incentivise innovation in glass packaging design and subsidise dedicated return points for glass-handling. Exemptions for smaller businesses unable to handle glass might also be necessary. Any successful solution will likely blend several approaches. It must address the differing priorities of devolved administrations, balance environmental benefits with logistical and cost implications, and be supported by robust consumer education campaigns emphasizing the importance of glass recycling.