New facility will push recycling rate up to 50%

11.01.57am BST (GMT +0100) Thu 30th Aug 2007

The New Facility Will Boost Recycling In Carshalton and Wallington

Deputy Leader and Executive Member for the Environment, Councillor Colin Hall took Sutton's Lib Dem MP's, Tom Brake and Paul Burstow round the Borough's 'state of the art' composting facility at Beddington Lane on Tuesday to see some of the innovative solutions that Sutton Council has introduced to increase the amount of waste diverted from landfill and to save local residents money.

Commenting after the tour, Paul Burstow said, "Thanks to this fantastic facility and the contribution made by Sutton's residents, Sutton is on target to be the number one London Borough for recycling by 2010."

Tom Brake added, "This composting facility will help the environment and save Sutton's Council taxpayers money by reducing the amount of waste that has to go to landfill. It's a Win-Win scenario."

Councillor Colin Hall remarked, "This is just one of the exciting projects the Borough has launched. We are now moving forward with a food waste recovery programme with Sutton taking the lead in a project funded by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs."

The £4 million plant was funded through a partnership bid to the London Recycling Fund led by Councillor Hall and supported by Croydon and Merton Councils. The plant helped secure a national award for Sutton's waste and recycling services.

The drum used to tumble the waste recovers more metal and biodegradable material before the remainder of the waste goes to landfill.

This new technology for waste treatment will help enable the council to meet its recycling target of 50 per cent by 2010 2005/6.

It will also help the council to achieve the Government's longer-term target of reducing the amount of biodegradable waste that goes to landfill. For each tonne that goes to landfill, councils are charged £24. This is set to increase to £48 by 2010/11.