It's a record!

Its not only weather records that have been broken in the past few weeks as recently released figures show that residents of the District have achieved a new recycling record!

Figures for May 2006 showed that residents recycled nearly 34% of their household waste during the month – the highest rate ever achieved, exceeding Central Government’s current target for Sevenoaks District of 30% and the national average of 25%.

The Council has now set itself an ambitious local target of recycling 35% of the District's household waste every month by March 2007.

The successful recycling efforts of people in the District are due largely to three key reasons:

• The weekly kerbside collection of recyclable material in the now common clear sacks, which all households use to recycle cardboard, cans of all kinds, plastic bottles and carrier bags, aluminium foil and ready food trays, and all paper including telephone directories and books
• Growing participation in the Council's fortnightly garden waste collection scheme 
• An increase in the number of District residents who bring their glass bottles and jars to the Council's 50 plus glass recycling sites spread across the District

The month of May saw residents place 675 tonnes of clear sacks out for collection, the equivalent of 67 large refuse lorries. The garden waste collection team brought in 337 tonnes of garden waste, another all time record. And to top this off, the Council’s glass collection crews lifted 210 tonnes of glass from our bottle banks, the second highest figure for any month.

These figures, added to the recycling brought in from other parts of the programme meant a total of 1,243 tonnes of household waste was recycled in May. That is roughly the same weight as three fully loaded Boeing 747s!

Cllr Felicity Broomby, the Council's Cabinet member with responsibility for recycling, says: "Our residents have always shown a great enthusiasm for recycling, but they surpassed even their own excellent efforts with these fantastic results in May. Well done to everyone who helped us achieve this figure, lets keeping on recycling and continue to make the District a greener place to live!”

To find out more about the wide-range of recycling programmes the Council offers contact the Council’s recycling manager on 01732 227000 or visit the website, www.sevenoaks.gov.uk/recycling