Recycling rates improve in the West Midlands

• Mar. 9 by Peggy Sue (1)

New statistics released by Recycle Now show promising results as recycling rates in the West Midlands have increased by 26 per cent.

The results show that the residents of Birmingham are becoming less sceptical about recycling, and are trying to help make change with the support of the Birmingham City Council.

Katy Shaw praised the council and their active role in recycling said:

‘We had our recycling bins stolen from outside of our house, we contacted the council to ask for replacements and within a few days they delivered them.’

In 2008-09 over one million tonnes of waste in the region was diverted from landfill, and recycling rates have increased from 15 to 32 per cent in the last five years.

Shaw also commented:

‘I think it’s really good what these statistics show because we don’t really get to see what comes out of us recycling but this shows every little is helping.’

People have become more aware of how and what they can recycle, as recycling has gone beyond just household waste.

Many eco-friendly technologies have been introduced on the market which has made it easier to recycle less common items more efficiently from video tapes to bicycles.

One statistic highlighted that over 27 million mobile phones were sold in the UK over the past year, which is equal to nearly 3,500 tonnes of electrical waste.

Many local authority recycling centres are now accepting electronic products which have helped contributed to the recycling rates greatly.