Manchester Falling Further Behind in the Recycling Race (Manchester Liberal Democrats Online)

Manchester Liberal Democrats Online <info@manchester-libdems.org.uk>

Manchester Falling Further Behind in the Recycling Race

October 21, 2007 12:00 AM

Labour-Run Manchester Council Falling Behind Again on on Recycling

New figures released by the Greater Manchester Waste Disposal Authority show that Labour-run Manchester City Council is continuing to under achieve in recycling of waste.

Manchester recycled 23.65% of waste in the first quarter of 07/08, the third worst figure of all ten councils in Greater Manchester. The Manchester figure is particularly disappointing, as it represents only a 1.1% increase compared to same period last year.

In contrast, Liberal Democrat-controlled Rochdale increased their recycling by 6.15%.

The council with the highest percentage of waste recycled waste was Liberal Democrat controlled Stockport, where 37.43% was recycled.

Councillor John Cameron, who is a Lib Dem representative on the Greater Manchester Waste Disposal Authority, said:

"These figures are highly disappointing. If we are to seriously tackle climate change we need to increase our recycling massively. The government is charging local authorities more and more taxes dumping waste, which makes it even more important to reduce the amount of waste going to landfill sites by recycling more. And yet Manchester has only managed a meagre 1% increase. This simply is not good enough."

The Liberal Democrats have been arguing for years that the Council need to extend their doorstep recycling scheme to include all households, including flats and apartments. They have also been calling for the Council to collect more materials, such as plastics and cardboard, to boost recycling rates.

"The Labour-run Manchester City Council must put these measures in place urgently to bring our recycling rates up to an acceptable level," said Cllr Cameron. On the subject of the City Council's recent announcement that they might bring in compulsory recycling, he added:

"In my experience, most people are very keen and willing to recycle. However, the Council must make this easier. It is a red herring to talk about making recycling compulsory when the City Council do not even provide a basic recycling service for thousands of residents and do not collect recyclable materials such as cardboard and plastic."

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