Did you know that over 60% of your rubbish can be recycled?

The council provides coloured sacks free of charge which residents can use to recycle glass, paper and tin cans each week. These are collected at the same time as normal refuse. More and more Wandsworth residents are helping us to achieve the recycling targets by taking part in the "Rainbow Sack" scheme. More than 33,000 households now subscribe to the scheme.

From April, more than 80,000 Wandsworth households will be able to put all their waste for recycling in a single sack when a new doorstep collection service begins. For the first time, people will be able to recycle textiles and plastics, as well as paper, card, glass and cans.

The Rainbow Sack service is not available to households in blocks of four or more storeys whose refuse is collected in wheeled bins. To join or request more sacks, call the 24 hour Recycling Hotline on 020 8871 7497 or e-mail recycling@wandsworth.gov.uk.

Click here for the facts & figures of recycling and waste collection throughout the borough of Wandsworth.

Dont let lethargy stop you recycling - every bit helps - other boroughs do not have door step collection. Joan Ruddock MP is sponsoring the The Doorstep Recycling Bill, it calls for local authorities to provide doorstep recycling to every household by 2010. For more details click here.

Sick of thin bin bags splitting? Well the local scouts groups will deliver to your door a variety of products including great heavy duty bin bags click here for details. Benefits from the sales go to the County Scout Charity No. 303887.

Most rubbish cannot be recycled indefinitely, so it's important to cut back on waste and reuse products as well as recycling.

New targets have been set by the government for Wandsworth to increase its recycling rate to 16% by 2003/4 and to 24% by 2005/6,however these figures compare badly with regions in countries such as Switzerland (52%), Austria (49.7%), Germany (48%) and the Netherlands (46%). On average only 11.0 percent of household waste is recycled or composted in Britain at present. We landfill about 85% of our waste overall. By 2016 EU law will force Britain to cut the 80% of its waste going to landfill down to 33%. EU rules state that half the rubbish that went into landfill in 1995 should, by 2009, be reused, composted or recycled. This target rises to 65% by 2016. Britain faces prosecution in the European court and fines of millions of pounds a day if it fails to reach its targets.

21.01.03

Council announces records in recycling levels 22.01.03

Council to announces plastics and textiles to be added to Rainbow recycling scheme 23.01.03