£1.5 million for recycling expansion (Leeds Liberal Democrats)

Leeds Liberal Democrats <info@leedslibdems.org.uk>

£1.5 million for recycling expansion

February 18, 2009 12:00 AM

Next year will see Leeds City Council invest £1.5 million to improve waste and recycling in the city.

Garden waste collections will be extended to a further 60,000 properties. This will mean that 182,000 Leeds homes will receive the collections, nearly 60% of the city's total. Some areas with high recycling rates will also start to receive their green bin collections on a fortnightly basis. The cost of these service improvements will total £1.4 million.

The council will also spend £100,000 on a food waste collection pilot. Residents in the pilot area will have their food waste collected by the council once a week. The waste will then be treated and used for horticultural purposes. As well as reducing the waste sent to landfill, the process also diverts methane, a potent greenhouse gas, from the atmosphere.

Executive Member for Environment Services Cllr Steve Smith (Lib Dem, Rothwell) said:

"This budget illustrates just how ambitious we are to make Leeds greener. These service improvements will boost recycling, cut landfill and reduce our greenhouse gas emissions.

"We have set ourselves a testing target of a 36% recycling rate for next year and I am confident that these measures will go a long way to meeting it."