Facts and figures
Recycling targets
Last year, we recycled around 23% of household waste. Our target for 2007/08 is to recycle at least 24%. We are planning to achieve this by:
- Encouraging more people to recycle more items
- Providing more recycling banks at blocks of flats to make sure that everyone can recycle easily at home.
- Making recycling easier at privately managed blocks of flats by providing reusable recycling bags
- Encouraging residents to reduce the amount of rubbish thrown away, for example, by composting kitchen and garden waste at home.
More ideas on what you can do to reduce rubbish.
Recycling statistics
In 2006/07, Wandsworth residents recycled 23,539 tonnes of materials, mostly paper and glass, that's about 23% of all household waste produced.
The pie chart below shows how much household waste was generated in Wandsworth in 2006/07 and how much of it was recycled and composted.
Household waste is the rubbish produced from homes, schools and hospitals. It also covers street sweepings and material that is recycled by the council and voluntary groups.
More waste is being recycled each year. But we are generating it at a faster rate than we are recycling it!
Find out what you can do to help.
How much is recycled?
| Colour key |
Material |
| |
Household waste recycled |
| |
Household waste composted |
| |
Household waste landfilled |
What is recycled?
The next pie chart shows what types of material are recycled in Wandsworth and included in our recycling figures.
Abandoned vehicles also get recycled for scrap metal and green waste generated from Wandsworth's parks and open spaces is composted for use as soil conditioner. However, these are not included in the 23% recycling figure.
What's in your bin?
The diagram below shows the contents of a typical bin in Wandsworth. As you can see, a lot of this can be recycled or composted. Some other materials that cannot be recycled could stay out of your bin altogether - find out more about how to reduce waste and recycle more.
 .
What happens to rubbish and recycling from Wandsworth?
After the residual rubbish is collected from your home it is taken to the Western Riverside Waste Authority transfer station at Smugglers Way for weighing. From there it is loaded on to barges and taken down the River Thames to a landfill site in Mucking, Essex.
Recycling collected in orange sacks and mixed recycling banks at blocks of flats must be sorted out before it can be recycled. The mixed recycling is also weighed by Western Riverside Waste Authority after it has been collected. It is then sent to a Materials Recycling Facility (MRF) in Crayford, Kent where the materials are sorted out using a variety of mechanical and hand-sorting techniques.
The sorted recycling is sent to manufacturers who make it into new products. For example, paper is made into newspapers; glass bottles and jars are crushed into fine sand for use in paving; plastic bottles can be made into fleece clothing or underground pipes and cans become cans again.
You can download a leaflet in Adobe's pdf format providing more information about the MRF or visit the Grosvenor Waste website to view a video of the sorting process and find details of where each material is sent for recycling.
 Recycling explained (636 kb)
Visit Recycle Now for more facts about recycling including the truth behind common myths about recycling.
Visit the Recycle Western Riverside website to view a video which shows what happens to waste and recycling from the Western Riverside Waste Authority region.
Waste services performance measures
Performance measures are set so that the quality of services the council provides can be monitored both internally and externally. We aim to respond to all complaints as quickly as possible and to minimise complaints of missed refuse collections and other service problems. Some of our performance measures from 2003/04 are shown below.
| Performance measure |
2003/04 |
2004/05 |
2005/06 |
Target 2006/07 |
| % refuse/recycling collections missed |
0.07% |
0.01% |
0.05% |
0.05% |
| % missed collections put right the next day |
98.9% |
99.3% |
90.3% |
100% |
| % streets clean or acceptable |
91% |
94% |
95% |
95% |
| Number of street cleansing complaints |
3337 |
3609 |
2590 |
3,000 |
| Number of refuse and recycling complaints |
12,251 |
17,010 |
7,232 |
8,800 |
| Average time to remove fly-tips (in days) |
0.39 |
0.42 |
0.58 |
0.50 |
Get more information on Council performance measures.
Useful links
General
Find out what else you can do for the environment in Wandsworth.
Recycling
- Recycle now - comprehensive information and advice about reducing waste and recycling more
- Wastewatch www.wastewatch.org.uk are a national charity providing information and advice on recycling and waste reduction
- The Composting Association www.compost.org.uk works to promote the environmental and economic benefits of composting and compost use.
- The Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) www.wrap.org.uk. This is a government-funded programme to create markets for recycled goods and build consumer confidence in recycled products.
- Recycle Western Riverside www.westernriverside.org.uk is a public-awareness campaign to get everyone recycling more, reducing their rubbish and buying more recycled products. It is a Western Riverside Waste Authority initiative within the London Boroughs of Hammersmith & Fulham, Lambeth, Wandsworth and the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea.
- Online recycled products guide www.recycledproducts.org.uk.
- Recycle more! Latest information, recycling bank locator plus tailored information for households, businesses and schools www.recycle-more.co.uk.
- www.freecycle.org and www.dontdumpthat.com are local reuse networks run by local people where you can advertise unwanted items, or look for items you do want that others are giving away, all for free.
- Wandsworth Work and Play scrapstore is a voluntary organisation who collect clean, re-usable surplus materials and make them available as an educational and environmentally friendly resource.
- Online recycling guide - useful recycling information and fun ideas for how to reuse old items.
|
