Hackney recycling overhaul means more people can go green

Over 14,000 more households will be able to join in with the recycling effort in Hackney next month, as the system is overhauled.

Recycling is presently collected in green boxes and hand sorted on a waiting vehicle.

But from March 1 residents will put their paper, metal and plastic rubbish in green sacks, which will be collected and sorted at a recycling facility mechanically and by hand.

This means homes which were previously unable to store the bulky plastic boxes will benefit from a recycling service for the first time.

Cllr Feryal Demirci, cabinet member for neighbourhoods, who proposed the changes said: “We’ve made a lot of progress since first introducing recycling in Hackney, but to recycle more we need to provide collections for as many residents as possible and make recycling even easier for everyone.

“We trialled this scheme previously in Cazenove ward and we’ve found that people recycle even more which will help us to contribute towards the North London target of recycling 50 per cent of our waste by 2020.

“It will also help to save money, reducing landfill costs by millions of pounds which can be reinvested in services.”

The new service will be delivered in-house, with staff from the current private sector recycling company transferred over to the council.