Green waste plan is unveiled

Officers at Richmondshire District Council are asking for permission to spend £268,000 to start kerbside collections of green rubbish, plus paper, cans and glass.

The council is taking the step to meet Government targets, which require the authority to recycle 18 per cent of household waste by 2006. It currently collects just over ten per cent.

Martin Garside, the council's environment unit manager, said in a report to councillors: "The key to increasing the recycling tonnage, to meet this target, is the introduction of two new recycling initiatives for the kerbside collection of green waste, from approximately 12,000 properties, and a kerbside collection of multi-materials, from approximately 8,000 properties."

It is expected the two schemes will collect about 1,800 tons of waste per year.

When these schemes are combined with current and proposed initiatives, the council estimates 20 per cent of the district's waste will be recycled.

The matter will be discussed at a resources committee meeting on Tuesday.

Councillor Wendy Morton, chairman of the committee, said: "Recycling is one of the council's key priorities that we have agreed.

"We did meet our targets last year, but we are under a lot of pressure from the Government to meet further targets and therefore feel we need to put more resources into recycling.

"I also believe recycling is something residents want to see us concentrating on."

If approved, the money will be spent on two vehicles, wheeled bins, recycling boxes and leaflets explaining the new service to the public.

If the council fails to meet its recycling targets, it could face a Government fine.

It is not yet known in which parts of the district the kerbside collections will be introduced.

The move follows the success of a similar scheme in neighbouring Hambleton.

The district saw its recycling rates rise from 9.6 per cent to more than 24 per cent in two years, after introducing green waste collections.