How green is our waste?
Ever wondered what happens to your refuse and recycling when you leave it outside to be collected every week? There is a great deal of information on the Council’s website. For example, your glass, cans, foil and plastic bottles and pots are collected from your black boxes and delivered to the Council’s depot in Craneford Way, Twickenham. From here it is sent in different directions, going to various sites in bulk to be sorted.
Some of it is sent to a sorting plant near Mansfield in Derbyshire: this plant separates the glass, steel cans, aluminium cans/foil and plastics from each other as well as from any non-recyclable contaminants present (which are in turn sent for incineration with energy recovery). Glass is processed in the UK and the Netherlands and ends up as new bottles and jars, aggregates, artificial slate or bricks. Food waste from your green food-waste boxes is delivered to the West London Waste Authority in Transport Way, Hounslow. It then goes to Bio Collectors’ anaerobic digestion facilities located in Mitcham, where it is turned into biogas (mainly methane) and fed into the national gas grid. The energy produced from recycling food waste therefore goes straight to homes and businesses, helping reduce the UK’s reliance on less sustainable energy sources. The bio-fertiliser is used on farmland to grow crops.
If you’re interested in what happens to everything else you leave in your bins, see here. Let us have your thoughts and comments – are you clear about what to recycle and what can’t be recycled?
A Council Interview
We asked Yvonne Perkins – Head of Waste and Street Cleansing at the London Borough of Richmond-upon-Thames – to answer some of our questions about our waste and recycling and how we can help to reduce its impact on the environment.
How good do you think we are in the London Borough of Richmond at recycling, especially
when compared with other London boroughs? Are there targets set for how much we recycle;
and if so – by whom?
Richmond currently recycles or composts 40% of all waste produced in the Borough, ranking 8th of the 33 London Boroughs. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) sets recycling targets for all local authorities. Our future targets are now being determined by DEFRA since the introduction of the Environment Bill in November 2021.
The latest accounts show that £7.7 million went to the West London Waste Authority (WLWA) last year (2020/21), a cost of £38.52 per resident: is that the total cost of our waste and recycling? If not, what other costs are there?
The costs paid by Richmond to the West London Waste Authority (WLWA) are for the haulage and treatment/processing of all waste and recycling collected from households in the Borough and those collected at the Townmead Road Re-Use and Recycling Centre Recycling Centre.
Does the Council have plans to reduce the environmental impact of our waste? If so, can you give examples?
The Council keeps the environmental impact of our collections service under review and will take all available steps to minimise this wherever possible. We have introduced electric vehicles where technically efficient to do so (these are usually the smaller supporting-service vehicles), are taking steps to ensure that all collection rounds are as operationally efficient as possible, and enforce a ‘No Idling’ policy on our vehicles.
Do you think people are clear enough about what can and can’t be recycled? If not, how could this be made clearer?
In 2020, every household in the borough received a waste and recycling guide, outlining what can and cannot be recycled. We know it can be confusing for people, especially as different local authorities have different rules, and packaging recycling instructions are not always clear. We have comprehensive information on our website and regularly share this with residents through our social media and other digital channels. Residents can access this information here We are always working on engaging ways to encourage residents to think more carefully about what they are recycling and, equally as importantly, helping them make changes to reduce the overall waste they produce.
Recycle Now has a really helpful tool in which you can enter the item in question and your postcode to find out if it’s recyclable, and how best to do so.
Has the damage from the fire at the Townmead Road site been fully repaired; and when will the restrictions that were put in because of the fire and Covid-19 at the site be lifted?
The damage from the fire at Townmead has been fully repaired. All social distancing measures on site have already been removed.
Is there a booking system still in place and, if so, why is it still needed?
With the site now operating at normal levels, the booking system has been amended to allow full use of capacity. It is being kept in place as it has proven to be a successful way to manage visitor flow to the site, which avoids backing-up of cars at peak times, including the weekend. Not only does this improve traffic in the area and reduce queueing times for visitors, but it also ensures we do not have lots of idling vehicles waiting to get in, which is of course beneficial for air quality in the area.
Do you think the inclusion of the site within the ULEZ area is deterring people from using it?
The Council has monitored the booking system data to review the impact of ULEZ. There is no evidence to suggest that site usage levels have declined since the ULEZ was introduced.
On the Council website, it says that none of our waste goes to landfill. What happens to the household rubbish that can’t be recycled?
Any waste that cannot be recycled is sent for incineration. The energy released is utilised to generate electricity for the National Grid. Metals are recovered for recycling afterwards, and most other ashes and aggregates produced are used for construction materials.
What can we all do to help to reduce the impact of our waste on the environment and to reduce
the costs of processing it?
As is always the case, the solution to the financial and environmental impacts of waste is for everyone to do everything that they can to avoid producing it in the first instance. Achieving this doesn’t have to mean huge changes to your everyday life. There are plenty of simple things we can all do, such as ensuring that items are purchased without unnecessary or/non-recyclable packaging. Richmond upon Thames lists a number of local zero-waste refill shops where you can stock up on refillable food and household products while cutting plastic use.
Another good and regular way to manage waste is by purchasing more efficiently. Food waste, for example, is easily managed with better meal planning and food storage, to maximise shelf-life. While it’s very important to ensure that any unavoidable waste is managed correctly within the home by ensuring all items are placed in the correct recycling container, it’s also important to be mindful of avoidable waste. We are lucky to live in a borough with so many local reuse and recycle schemes which support residents to reduce waste by donating or exchanging unwanted items.
