Northumberland County Council in the UK has hit a record high for recycling, according to the latest figures released in December.
The amount of waste sent to landfill by the county council in the six months for April to September 2009, is just one fifth of the amount sent to landfill in the same period in the previous year. This is representative of a drop of approximately 45,000 tonnes being sent to landfill.
The waste saved, after recycling, is now being used at the SITA UK waste-to-energy facility in the TEES Valley which was recently extended. The extension, which cost £70 million, will handle Northumberland’s waste until 2035, and was officially opened in October 2009.
Richard Hinchcliffe, SITA UK’s Regional Manager for Northumberland, says: ‘By increasing recycling rates and introducing energy from waste, Northumberland County Council is showing that a good mix of recycling and waste management technologies do work well together.’
