The Council is pleased to announce that it has installed the first of its WEEE recycling banks in Back Lane, Rochford.

WEEE banks (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment) are there to take your broken, small electrical and electronic items such as toasters, kettles and shavers. The banks have a small opening and therefore are not able to take large items such as fridges, freezers and televisions.

The Council is working with May Gurney and the WEEE recycler Reclaimed Appliances to provide this service.

As well as offering you an easy and convenient way of getting rid of broken electrical items, by taking them to the WEEE banks, you’ll also be helping charity, for every tonne of waste collected, a £1 donation will be made to The Rainbow Trust.

The banks have been put in place to make life easier for residents. At the moment, small electrical and electronic items can’t be put in household bins so the WEEE banks give you a more convenient way of disposing of them.

As well as the WEEE banks, you can still recycle these items – and larger electrical items – at the Recycling Centre for Household Waste in Castle Road, Rayleigh.

Rochford District Council’s Portfolio Holder for the Environment, Councillor Mike Steptoe, said: “Installing these new recycling banks shows that we are always listening to feedback and looking for new ways to make our recycling scheme easier to use for our residents.

We hope that the new banks will offer a convenient place to dispose of small electrical and electronic items as well as benefit The Rainbow Trust charity.”

Click here to download a table showing all of the recycling bank sites throughout the District and which materials can be recycled there.

For further information, please contact Customer Services on 01702 318111 or email customerservices@rochford.gov.uk

Residents in Rochford District are the best in England when it comes to recycling. That’s the verdict of the Government department who monitors waste and recycling figures.

Statistics released by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) in November placed Rochford District Council at the top of the league with a huge recycling rate of 65.79 per cent putting us first out of more than 350 local authorities across England.

It means that residents across Rochford District recycle and compost more materials than anywhere else in
England, and are the best at ensuring as little goes to landfill as possible, meaning a greener future for all.

Since 2008, Rochford has gone from being one of the lowest performing local authorities in the country for recycling and composting, with a rate of under 20 per cent, to the best, and it’s all because of the commitment shown by residents to recycling and composting as much as possible.

Here’s some tips from the team on how you can make the most out of your recycling bins:

Placing items into the bins

Additional capacity, especially in the recyclables bin, can be created by:

• making sure that items are squashed where possible
• stacking items into one another (eg plastic food trays)
• placing large pieces of flattened cardboard by the sides of the bins

Home composting
If you have a garden with space for a compost bin, then this is a useful way to not only divert some of the food and garden waste away from your compostables bin, but also to provide you with some free compost for your garden!

Reducing the amount of food you throw away
The Love Food Hate Waste campaign provides lots of information on reducing the amount of food you buy. You can find out more at www.lovefoodhatewaste.com

Bulky waste and electrical items
Items of furniture, plastic toys, lino and carpet tiles can all be collected via the bulky waste collection scheme, so there is no need for items such as these to be placed into the non recyclables bin.

Small electrical items such as kettles and toasters can’t be placed into any of the bins as they are classed as hazardous waste and should be disposed of at the Household Waste site in Castle Road, Rayleigh.

The Council collects thousands of tonnes of materials each year for recycling and occasionally, the loads from the collection vehicles contain materials that are in the incorrect bin, known as “contamination”.

Contamination makes the recycling process more time-consuming, costly and inefficient, and could also lead to a whole lorry load being taken to landfill.

Recently we have seen contamination rates rise and in order to address this, if your bin is contaminated, it will be stickered and left uncollected.

Contamination in the recyclables bin includes:

• Black sacks/bin liners
• Textiles
• Pieces of plastic wrapping such as cling film and bubble wrap
• Nappies
• Other non-recyclable waste including food
• Household electrical items such as kettles, irons and toasters

The Council will collect all carrier bags that are placed in the recyclables bin, but please put them in loose.

We would also ask that you ensure all other recyclables are rinsed and clean and placed loose into the bin.

If you are unsure of which item goes into which bin, please check the A-Z of materials at www.rochford.gov.uk/recyclingatoz or call Customer Services on 01702 318111.

The Council, who work with partners SITA UK to collect recycling and waste across the District, came top in the East of England and second in the country in the poll.

Letsrecycle.com compile figures from top-performing local authorities across the country to create the unofficial league table ahead of official figures released by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) in a few months time.

The figure of 65.4 per cent recycling rate puts Rochford in second place in the letsrecycle.com table, making it the top-performing authority in the entire Eastern region.

Rochford District Council’s Portfolio Holder for the Environment, Councillor Mike Steptoe, said: “Although this is an unofficial table it shows that Rochford residents are among the best in the country when it comes to recycling.

We know how hard everyone works in the District, from Council officers who have implemented the scheme, our contractors, SITA UK who empty the bins and most importantly, our residents who have helped to recycle so much material.

It is a fantastic achievement and I want to thank everyone who has helped make the Maximise Recycling Scheme such a success.”

General Manager at SITA UK, Steve Holgate, added: “Further to the success of last year and the achievement of winning the prestigious Green Apple Award, it’s fantastic news to hear that once again Rochford District Council in partnership with SITA UK has increased its recycling rate to around 65 per cent and are now among the very best in the country.”

You can read the article on the edieWaste website here.

Rochford District Council has been designated a Green Hero and is being used as an example of environmental best practice in Volume 16 of The Green Organisation’s “Green Book” reference publication which details how councils, companies and communities have made a difference to their environment.

The reference book is circulated to environment professionals around the world, businesses, universities and government departments and is used to give examples of environmental best practice.

Inclusion in the book follows the award the Council received in the Environmental Best Practice category of the Green Apple Awards in 2010 for the Maximise Recycling Scheme.

Rochford District Council’s Maximise Recycling Scheme was launched in July 2008 and has since reached monthly recycling rates of around 65 per cent, one of the highest in the country.

The Green Apple Awards began in 1994 and last year attracted more than 500 nominations. They are organised by The Green Organisation, who recognise, reward and promote environmental best practice around the world.

Rochford District Council’s Portfolio Holder for the Environment, Councillor Mike Steptoe, said: “For the hard work residents in the Rochford District put in alongside Council officers to be recognised with a Green Apple award was a great honour.

The way in which residents have achieved such high recycling rates will be included as an example of best environmental practice in a reference book circulated around the world.

It means the incredible commitment Rochford residents’ have shown to recycling as much of their waste as possible will well and truly be put on the map and I would like to thank everyone for their continuing efforts in ensuring that we are one of the best local authorities in the country for recycling rates.”

The fire appears to have started as a result of hot embers being placed in a household recyclables bin.
Had it not been for the quick thinking of the driver of the vehicle from the Council’s waste contractor SITA Suez, who emptied the waste from the vehicle onto the road, a major incident could have occurred.

Leading Firefighter Rick Jones, of Hawkwell Fire Station, said: “It seems that someone had put hot embers into their bin and these set light to other materials in the cart.

Crews worked with the cart’s crew to empty the recycling material onto the road so we were able to quickly locate the seat of the fire and extinguish it before it could spread. Disposing of hot embers in the bin is never safe.

Now summer is here, more and more people will be having barbecues, it is vital that ashes from these barbecues are disposed of safely and properly. Empty the spent ash on to bare garden soil – never put it in the dustbin.”

During the clean-up operation, in addition to the presence of hot ashes, it also came to light there was a large amount of contamination in the recyclables that had been emptied onto the road.

The vehicle was transporting materials such as paper, glass, tins and plastics for recycling but amongst the items found were DIY tools and saucepans which should have been placed in the non reyclables bins.

Rochford District Council’s Portfolio Holder for the Environment, Councillor Mike Steptoe, said: “As well as the advice offered by the Fire Service, this incident has also highlighted some of the incorrect materials that are being placed into the bins.

Rochford residents have shown a huge willingness to recycle, and have helped make the District one of the best in the country in terms of recycling rates. However, the incident last week has shown there is still contamination in our waste meaning more materials going to landfill, which, in turn, means we have to pay more landfill tax.

I want to thank everyone who has helped make our scheme such a success so far and also urge them, if they have any queries about which materials go in which bins to get in touch with our recycling team on 01702 318111, email recycle@rochford.gov.uk or visit the Recycling A-Z on our website at www.rochford.gov.uk/recyclingatoz.”

The contents of the vehicle, where the fire occurred, had to be emptied in the street resulting in closure of the road for two to three hours.

The quick action of the crew may have saved lives and prevented damage to property. If the lorry had caught fire the situation could have been very dangerous.

Rochford District Council and its partners SITA Suez worked with the Fire Service, Police and other partners to resolve the issue as quickly as possible. The road was reopened at 12.30pm.

Rochford District Council’s Portfolio Holder for the Environment, Councillor Mike Steptoe, said: “The cause of this fire is still being investigated but I would like to praise the quick thinking of the crew who immediately stopped the vehicle and emptied the dry recyclables out onto the road.

Had they not have taken this swift, decisive action the fire could have spread quickly and caused a major incident.  I am also appreciative of SITAs rapid clean up operation that has minimised the disruption to residents.”