Burnt recycling

Whilst waiting for my first recycling collection of the year — the snowy weather has lead to the cancellation of the previous two — I’ve been browsing through Swindon Borough Council’s cabinet paper on plans for incinerating cooking Swindon’s rubbish. I couldn’t help but notice that rather a lot of what is sent for recycling seems not to be recycled.

The principal risk is how it deals with household waste, however, there is evidence that it will at least manage the residual waste from the Recycling Centre…. To fully manage our entire waste stream, an additional two units, on top of the three funded through this case, are required.

That rather reads as though the majority of the first two units will be used to burn leftovers from recycling. With 50% of Swindon’s rubbish actually being recycled, just how much more than that 50% is having to be weeded out? And given the oft claimed high quality of Swindon’s recyclables, just how little of what people elsewhere think they’re recycling is actually going to landfill?