Refuse and Recycling Facts and Figures

Did you know?

Essex is rapidly running out of landfill space. A typical Essex household produces nearly a tonne of waste every year: About 70% of the contents of your bin are recyclable. We must reduce the amount of rubbish going to landfill sites, which will help keep down the rising cost of waste disposal along with conserving diminishing raw materials not to mention protecting our environment and our children’s environment.

Last year you recycled 14,725 tonnes of domestic rubbish and 15,678 tonnes of food and garden waste which would otherwise have been destined for the land fill site.

Overall rate for recycling was almost 60%

Essex alone produces in excess of 1,000,000 tonnes of waste per year and it has to be disposed of safely.

Glass recycling reduces landfill and cuts waste disposal

Every tonne of glass recycled extends the life of our increasingly scarce landfill sites. In terms of weight, glass makes up about 8% of household rubbish.

Any increase in the amount of glass recycled means savings on escalating waste collection and disposal costs.

End of Landfill

New European laws mean that in order to protect our drinking water from pollution, landfill sites will no longer be able to be used for waste disposal. One alternative is incineration but many people are against this due to possible toxic gas emissions. Other methods of disposal are being considered and tested but in the meantime we all have a duty to try to reduce the amount of waste we create.

Reduce

As well as recycling and reusing we can also cut landfill and help prevent climate change by reducing the amount of waste we produce.

Simple methods include:

looking for goods with less packaging or packaging which is easily recycled and avoiding plastic packaging where possible
re-using items when you have finished with them, like envelopes or turning household waste into compost for the garden
recycling everything the Council asks you to such as food and garden waste, paper, cardboard, cans, tins, specified plastics and textiles
But please remember not to put anything in your blue box, green lidded wheelie bin or your clear sacks that is not on the list of recyclables.

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Refuse and Recycling Facts and Figures

Last year you recycled 14,725 tonnes of domestic rubbish and 15,678 tonnes of food and garden waste which would otherwise have been destined for the land fill site.

Overall rate for recycling was almost 60%

Essex alone produces in excess of 1,000,000 tonnes of waste per year and it has to be disposed of safely.

Reduce

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