Islington got more good news this week with the announcement that the borough's recycling rate reached a record 18% in October 2005. <br><br>This exciting achievement demonstrates the council’s commitment to improving services and residents’ enthusiasm for recycling. Making recycling as easy as possible and the increasing interest and knowledge of residents has seen the amounts recycled in the borough double in the last fifteen months.<br><br>Reaching the 18% recycling rate is a significant landmark because the council has a strategy to reach 18% as the year’s average (April 2005 to March 2006). The council would like to take this opportunity to thank residents for supporting the recycling schemes and encourage them to recycle even more in the future.<br><br>Councillor Bridget Fox, Executive member for sustainability, said: “Residents have told us that they want to recycle more, so the council is continually launching new initiatives to deliver on this request. I am particularly pleased to see that we’ve reached 18% for October – this is a great achievement and I would like to thank the residents of Islington for contributing to a greener environment for the borough.”<br><br>The council has introduced a variety of recycling initiatives over the past year, with further schemes to be introduced over the coming months.<br><br>In particular, residents living above shops will soon be able to contribute to a greener lifestyle for Islington, with a new recycling bag collection service launched on 14 November. <br><br>This is the first time that this service has been offered to residents living above shops, and it will initially cover Upper Street, Islington High Street and Holloway Road. The scheme will be quickly expanded to other areas after the launch.<br><br>The collection scheme will use a recyclable plastic bag to collect paper, glass, cans and tins, plastic bottles and cardboard. Collections will take place every night at 9pm.<br><br>For more information on this new scheme, or to find out more details on recycling, residents can visit the council’s website, www.islington.gov.uk/recycling or phone Contact Islington on 020 7527 2000.<br><br>ENDS<br><br>Notes to editor:<br>Over the past year the council has:<br>· opened the Household Reuse and Recycling Centre, which has seen more than 93,000 visitors since opening.<br>· improved the green box scheme which now takes cardboard and plastic bottles as well as paper, glass and cans<br>· provided all street properties with a green waste collection<br>· provided all street properties with a kitchen waste collection <br>· introduced door-to-door collections on estates for cardboard, plastic bottles, paper, glass and cans. Currently 7,500 properties are on the scheme<br>· introduced a pilot commingled collection on some mini recycling facilities on estates<br>· introduced a subsidised real nappy / nappy laundry service<br>· opened the cutting edge i-recycle centre for schools and community groups, to educate the community about the importance of recycling<br>· launched an exciting new swapxchange website allowing residents to swap useful items they no use for things they want<br>· simplified our collections so that the green box, kitchen waste and green waste bags are all collected on the same day<br><br>The council also has plans for a variety of new initiatives, to be introduced soon, including the addition of 11,000 properties to the estates door-to-door scheme in December with a further 3,000 properties to be added in February.
Page Last Updated: 17 December 2009