Wealden businesses will now be able to help the district’s recycling effort by recycling their empty cardboard boxes and packaging.
Wealden District Council is launching a Commercial Cardboard Recycling scheme after winning a grant of £30,000 from the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs’ Business Resources Efficiency and Waste programme to help cover the set-up costs.
“By taking part in our cardboard recycling scheme, local businesses will really be boxing clever,” said Cllr Sylvia Tidy, head of Community Development. “Not only will they be helping to reduce the amount of rubbish that goes into Sussex’s dwindling supply of landfill sites, but by taking part in the scheme, they will be able to reduce the charges they have to pay for commercial waste collection.”
“We currently operate glass, cans and newspaper recycling collections for some 70 Wealden businesses. But we have 5,000 small and medium sizes businesses in Wealden and we are hoping our Commercial Cardboard Recycling scheme will attract a greater response. A recent survey showed that two-thirds of our current commercial waste customers would be interested in such a scheme.”
Wealden District Council collects 8,690 tonnes of commercial waste each year, but through cardboard recycling, hopes to be able to divert at least 1,000 tonnes of waste away for landfill. Increased charges for biodegradable landfill waste are likely to further impact upon businesses who do not make use of recycling schemes.
Cardboard will be collected in colour-coded 1100 litre, 660 litre and 240 litre bins and taken to SCA Recycling in Newhaven where it can be processed back into usable cardboard. Cardboard can be recycled up to seven times before the fibres get too short for processing. Trials involving both retail and industrial businesses in Uckfield over the past six months have proved successful, saving over a tonne of cardboard in the first week alone.
Wealden plans to expand the Commercial Cardboard Recycling scheme to industrial and retail areas later in this year, but officers will first be visiting businesses in the district to advise them on their waste disposal responsibilities and talking about alternatives to landfill.
“We’ve found talking one to one with businesses is the best way of getting support and helping avoid any potential problems with fly tipping and unauthorised disposal,” said Mike Pashler, Head of Waste and Commercial Services.
Wealden businesses interested in taking part in cardboard recycling should contact Waste Management Officer Paul Thomson on 01892 602724 or email recycling@wealden.gov.uk.
The Defra grant is being used to pay for the bins and publicise the new service. The new service is in line with Wealden’s priority to reduce landfill waste and in keeping with the Integrated Regional Strategy developed by SEEDA, the South East England Development Agency. This points out that it currently takes a region almost 30 times the size of the South East, to support the region’s consumption, including waste disposal. The IRS seeks to reduce the region’s ecological footprint by 2016.