View from the centre ground

1 in 4 Barnet flats left without recycling for six months

It is with great relief that standing to attention patiently at the end of my drive this afternoon was a shiny blue recycling bin. The joy this brings to me is embarrassing; this is because for the last six months I have been without a recycling service.

If you live in the area you will recall that the new recycling system was rolled out in October 2013 with the expectation that recycling tonnage will go up. Lets hope this is indeed the case. However as a resident of a purpose-built small block of flats (6-16 residents) I was told that I was not to get the new bins immediately and that the old box system was not to be collected. Not a good start. With the recent removal of the recycling bank at Daws Lane many flat residents in Mill Hill have been left with little option but to make a long trek to a recycling bank (many of which do not have plastic bins) or resort to sending their cardboard, glass and plastic to landfill.

My first thoughts were; how many other residents are in the same position as myself? The results from a FOI request (a very speedy service from Barnet and coincidentally returned on the same day as my wheelie-bin-of-joy) show a worrying absence of a recycling service for other residents in the Borough. Out of the estimated 141,480 residential properties in Barnet 37,500 are part of a block of flats with six or more dwellings. According to the FOI request 28,050 properties in flats have a recycling service; this results in 9,450 properties without recycling. Put it another way, 1 in 4 flats (and about 7% of total properties) have no option but to trash their recyclables.

In 2012/2013 Barnet managed to recycling a whopping 46373.83 tonnes of waste. Assuming an equal spread of across each property, the removal of recycling from 7% of properties for six months amounts to about 1500 tonnes of potential recycling sent elsewhere; an equivalent of 210 routemaster buses in weight.

Of course it is possible that recycling has increased since the introduction of the mixed-recycling system last October. But think of the missed opportunity to recycling more; the missed opportunity for 7% of our council tax paying community being unable to enjoy the benefit of kerb-side recycling.

This missed opportunity follows a growing list of disappointments from the current Conservative-controlled Council. The recent removal of recycling banks from Daws Lane and the revelation that as of 2015 the mixed-recycling scheme will have to be replaced with a separate recycling system to meet EU regulations on glass in recycled paper, are two oversights on our community recycling needs. It is unfortunate that the Tories will put an ideological 1% cut to council tax ahead of the provision of basic waste management systems for Barnet as some of the lost earnings could be used to fund more environmental wardens and a community skip service.

As I fill my recycling bin knowing its appearance is better late than never the question remains why it has taken so long to for these bins to be delivered.