Hull in print : Feature

Imagine 120 refuse lorries, all full of household waste, standing in a traffic jam a mile long.
That's the extra amount of household waste per month which Hull residents are now recycling, compared to a year ago.
And that's more than 1,200 tonnes of household waste each month now being turned into other products rather than being buried in landfill sites, which harm the environment.
The recycling rate in Hull has gone up by 60 per cent in the last year as residents get to grips with their new brown and blue recycling bins.
The bins, along with large kitchen caddies for homes without gardens, have now been delivered to almost every household in the city in a scheme costing more than £6m to put in place.
"It's an investment which will save a lot of money in the long run," says Cllr Dave Woods, who is responsible for environmental sustainability in the city.
"Tax on landfill will rise by 20 per cent in April because of the damage it's causing the environment, so it's vital that we recycle, re-use and reduce as much household waste as possible.
"It's already very gratifying to see the amazing efforts of so many residents who are now using their new bins.
"But we need to do even more – otherwise the extra landfill tax may mean the council has to cut back on services.
"Over the next year we'll be trying to find out some of the barriers which are stopping people from recycling, whether they are lack of knowledge about how to do it, being too busy, forgetting, or simply not accepting there is an environmental problem."

Best Christmas ever

Figures show that between 60 and 70 per cent of households are now using the new recycling bins, compared to 30 per cent who used the old black box and blue bin recycling scheme.
The main difference between the schemes is that residents can now recycle all food waste, raw or cooked, in their 240-litre brown bins or large kitchen caddies.
They can also put garden waste such as grass and hedge clippings into the brown bins.
At the same time, most households have received new 240-litre blue bins for recycling newspapers, magazines, cardboard, plastic and glass.
Residents can also keep their old 240-litre black bins for everything that's left over.
"We don't anticipate there being too much in the black bins if people are using their brown and blue bins correctly," says Doug Sharp, sustainable waste development manager at Hull City Council.
"We've found that most people are finding the bins easy to use, and this has been reflected in our Christmas recycling figures, which are the best ever!"

Facts and figures

there are 117,000 homes in Hull, which together produce a 140,000 tonnes of household waste each year. Uncompacted, this has a volume of 700,000 cubic metres which would fill the KC Stadium four and a half times
at the end of last year, almost 37 per cent of that waste was being recycled rather than being put in landfill, compared to 23 per cent at the end of 2008
from April, the tax on landfill waste will rise to £48 per tonne. That's £4.2 million per year at current recycling rates
17 trees are saved for every tonne of paper that is recycled
landfill sites can harm the environment if greenhouse gases from the rotting waste escape into the atmosphere and contribute to global warming
waste can be recycled into a wide range of new products including compost, copier paper, wine glasses, furniture and even parts for cars and aircraft
recycling one tin can saves enough energy to power a TV for three hours
recycling one glass bottle saves enough energy to power a computer for 25 minutes. The average family uses 500 glass bottles and jars every year
on average, every person will throw away their own body weight in waste every seven weeks


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