Countywide campaign aims to improve recycling rates

The Northamptonshire Waste Partnership, which consists of all seven District and Borough councils and the County Council, has organised the campaign to raise participation in recycling and make people think more about the impact of putting recyclable items into landfill.

Starting in April, the project will look at the recycling habits of 9,000 households countywide. This will involve noting the number of bins that are put out on recycling day and checking the contents to see whether households are aware of what can be recycled in kerbside collections in their areas. Residents are assured that no contents will be removed from the boxes and individual householders will not be approached about the contents.

The exercise will be carried out by staff from local authority waste management teams, who will survey recycling in these areas on three separate occasions over the spring and summer to gain an overall picture of recycling activity.

Similar surveys are already carried out by local authorities nationally as standard practice to look at ways of boosting recycling rates.

Between June and September, door-stepping surveys will then be carried out at approximately 36,000 households across Northamptonshire, focusing on general recycling information awareness. The aim is to encourage residents to continue to recycle by identifying any barriers they may face and answering any questions about recycling. It will also include a questionnaire asking residents to rate the current kerbside recycling service they receive.

The number of recycling bins put out in the areas originally surveyed will then be assessed again later in the year to measure the effectiveness of the door-stepping campaign and to see if there has been an increase in recycling activity.

For further information please contact Sean Hughes on 01327 302310 or email shughes@daventrydc.gov.uk