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End-Use Register proves recycling works in Somerset
For anyone in Somerset who wonders what happens to their household recycling once it has been picked up from the kerbside or dropped off at a recycling bank or centre, the answers are published today.
Somerset Waste Partnership is one of the first local authority organisations in the country to publish a detailed “End-Use Register” for 2007/8, the latest year with full figures. This gives clear, accurate information about what happens to all those jars, cans, newspapers and other materials that people in Somerset are so good at recycling.
And the picture is a good one:
• Everything that is collected for recycling in Somerset is being recycled with no stockpiling.
• Over 90% of materials collected are recycled here in the UK, with just 8% being recycled overseas.
• The energy saved by recycling reduced carbon emissions by 118,000 tonnes compared to the environmental impact of burying these materials in landfill sites. That is equivalent to the carbon produced by 33,000 cars or 20,000 homes per year.
• Even with the recent economic downturn, materials collected for recycling in Somerset continue to find markets.
There are also some surprising facts about what happens next to your recycling. For example, cans might come back to you as a car door, newspapers will be read again as newspaper and you could wear one time plastic bottles as a fleece. Food waste is composted and used by local farmers, while composted garden waste can be bought in bulk by farmers or as Revive Soil Improver from local Household Waste Recycling Centres.
Cllr Nigel Woollcombe-Adams, Chair of Somerset Waste Board welcomed the End-Use Register. “The End-Use Register is real evidence that recycling in Somerset is reducing carbon emissions and conserving natural resources. It’s pleasing to be able to show that efforts made by local people are paying off for the environment and, with 163,000 tonnes recycled saving us almost £7 million in disposal costs and landfill tax, it’s good for our pockets as well.”
Somerset Waste Partnership plans to publish the Recycling End Use Register annually. A full copy can be downloaded from www.somersetwaste.gov.uk along with advice on recycling and reducing the amount of waste you produce.
23 February 2009
For further details contact Mark Blaker
01823 625714
Email: Mark.blaker@somersetwaste.gov.uk
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