Council blames pandemic for fall in recycling rates

Just 30.9% of household rubbish in Enfield was recycled in 2021/22 despite the introduction of fortnightly general waste collections, reports Simon Allin, Local Democracy Reporter

A recycling truck outside Enfield Civic Centre (credit Enfield Council)

Enfield’s recycling rate fell year-on-year and remains well below target despite the switch to fortnightly general waste collections three years ago.

The latest figures show the borough’s household recycling rate dropped from 33.2% in 2020/21 to 30.9% during 2021/22, with officers blaming the “huge impact” of the Covid-19 pandemic for the decline in performance.

However, the rate has improved during the current financial year so far, reaching 35.9% in the first quarter of 2022/23 and 35.8% during the second quarter. Officers say they expect the upward trend to continue.

When Enfield Council switched to fortnightly general waste collections in March 2020, councillors claimed the move would help boost recycling. The council’s own climate action plan, also launched in 2020, set the target to achieve a 49% recycling rate by 2022.

The latest low recycling figures were discussed during a meeting of the council’s environment and climate change scrutiny panel on Tuesday (14th). Conservative panel member Joanne Laban asked if the move to fortnightly collections had failed to increase recycling, given that “currently, we are recycling less than we were before”.

Doug Wilkinson, the council’s environment director, said two years of Covid-19 had a “huge impact on everybody’s life and behaviour”, making like-for-like comparisons difficult.

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He added: “We never had any opportunity to embed the new working practices both with the operational staff and crews, and the recycling officers, and the engagement with all of the residents of Enfield.”

Doug said the council had lost two years of engagement because of the pandemic, which had also led to more waste being produced as people stayed at home during the lockdown periods.

Council officers are now stepping up their efforts to hit the 49% target, focusing on reducing “contamination” of recycling bins with dirty or non-recyclable waste and providing better communal bins for council flats.

In 2020/21, around a quarter of recycling collected from the borough’s wheeled bins had to be sent for incineration because it was contaminated. Targeted schemes have cut the number of items wrongly placed in recycling bins by 98%, and the council estimates that this year contamination will have dropped to less than a quarter of the 2021/22 figure.

Boosting the recycling rate also comes with a financial benefit for the council, with every 1% of refuse diverted to recycling saving between £85,000 and £95,000 per year.

Under questioning from Labour panel member Hivran Dalkaya, council officers said they had identified a need to ensure communications on recycling were sent out in different languages.

Cllr Dalkaya suggested sending out leaflets in different languages, pointing out that elderly residents and other groups may not have access to the internet. Doug responded that officers could look to work more closely with councillors on “targeted communication”.

Officers also signaled they could broaden engagement with residents to take on board their suggestions about measures that would help them to increase recycling.

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