Cambridgeshire Councils sign recycling contract with Viridor to improve environmental performance, efficiency and cut down costs   

Cambridge City, Fenland and Huntingdonshire District Councils signed a five-year contract with leading recycling company Viridor for the sorting of recyclables collected by the authorities. The new contract is expected to increase recycling levels and help cut down on carbon emissions.

Viridor will sort and market the councils’ estimated 34,000 tonnes of recyclates at the modern Materials Recycling Facility (MRF) in neighbouring Peterborough which means recycling vehicles will travel shorter distances and thus reduces costs and carbon emissions associated with transport.

In addition to those environmental and financial benefits, from 29 March 2010 recycling will be easier as residents in both Fenland and Huntingdonshire will be able to include glass bottles and jars in their blue bins – joining Cambridge City residents who have been recycling glass containers, paper, cardboard, aluminium and steel cans, plastic bottles and tetrapak cartons using their blue bins since last November.

It will also help make communications about recycling in the Cambridgeshire area easier with the same collection method and materials accepted by the three authorities.

Stuart Wood, Viridor’s regional manager, said: “Recovery of good quality materials and value for money were clear objectives for the three councils. Viridor was not only able to meet those criteria but also to help the councils provide an improved service by enabling them to collect a wider range of materials from the kerbside.

“Peterborough MRF’s recent modernisation, together with our strict quality control protocols and procedures will ensure the councils’ dry recycling is effectively sorted meeting the end-market specifications”.

A spokesperson on behalf of Cambridge City, Huntingdon and Fenland District Councils said: “All three councils are among the best recyclers in the country with recycling rates above the national average of 37 percent and the new contract will contribute towards the councils’ aspirational targets of recycling between 55 and 60 percent of household waste by 2020. We are particularly pleased that the contract has enabled us to collect a wider range of materials in commingled kerbside collections, making it easier for our residents to recycle and making recycling provision more uniform across the county.”