Legislation
- Why you should recycle and in what ways you can help the environment.
- Why is waste minimisation and recycling so important?
- Useful links
Why you should recycle and in what ways you can help the environment.
All councils have got to reduce the amount of waste that is going to landfill to meet statutory targets set by the Government and the EU Landfill Directive.
The council has introduced a range of collection services over the last few years to help us achieve these targets. This includes the provision of a fortnightly black bin collection, fortnightly brown bin collection and green bags for paper, plastic, tins and glass which are also collected fortnightly on the same day as your brown bin. The council also provides recycling “bring sites" at key locations around the borough, details at Recycling sites in Erewash
Materials may also be recycled at the Civic Amenity site on Manners Road in Ilkeston.
The council has introduced this method of collection because under various UK and European legislation the council is obliged to engage in “Waste Minimisation and recycling”. Landfill regulations are imposed on the waste disposal authority (Derbyshire county council) to ensure these targets are met to reduce the amount of waste going in to landfill. Failure to meet these targets may result in fines of around £150 per tonne (for every tonne sent to landfill over the limit!) If these fines are imposed then council tax would have to rise considerably to help pay them. In order to prevent these fines the Council has joined forces with the Derbyshire District and City Councils and produced a joint integrated waste strategy.
Secondly, the Government monitors the Council’s performance using targets called Best Value Performance Indicators (BVPIs,) these are set by the Council but certain minimum standards are expected by the Government. In the case of Erewash Borough Council we were expected to recycle and compost a combined target of 30% of all waste collected in 2005/6. We achieved a total combined figure of 38% and were well inside our target of being within the top 25% of councils in England. In 2006/7 our combined figure was 41% which puts us at the top of the table in Derbyshire and in the top 10% of recyclers in England!
This link gives more information on why we must reduce waste going to landfill www.channel4.com/science
Why is waste minimisation and recycling so important?
There are many reasons why waste reduction is important, the main ones are;
- Energy Removing minerals from the ground, processing them and then transporting them to the point of manufacture has a great deal of impact on the environment. Recycling reduces the amount of impact this process has on the environment particularly as there is no need for the extraction process.
- Resource management By placing re-useable resources into landfill you are effectively eliminating the ability for them to be recovered. Although some, like aluminium, are very common, others are extremely rare such as the materials used in electrical components.
- Pollution The extraction of minerals from the ground can be extremely invasive with inevitable disruption of the local ecosystem.
- Sustainability You cannot create energy and materials from nothing, in consuming them we deplete the resources available to us on the planet, eventually these resources will run out. By minimising this consumption and recovering materials and reusing them we prolong the life of the planet along with everything and everyone on it!
If you have young children who are interested in recycling and helping to save the environment for the future, they may enjoy the site below.
Let's play! Open www.recyclezone.org.uk A site for schools, children and teachers