The two routes in Tulse Hill and West Dulwich, where fortnightly waste collections started on February 6 this year, saw recycling jump to 59 per cent. This compares to a borough-wide kerbside recycling rate of 43 per cent.
Under the change recycling collections, via green wheelie bins and food waste bin collections, remain weekly. But black bins for non-recyclable waste are emptied fortnightly.
The recycling of food waste has been a big contributor in Tulse Hill and West Dulwch, with the council’s food waste crew collecting as much as a tonne more per day than during the same time last year. The recycling contamination there has also been lower than the borough average.
Cllr Rezina Chowdhury, Cabinet Member for Sustainable Lambeth and Clean Air, said: “These are great results and I applaud our residents who have got on board with this initial roll out and embraced recycling, particularly food recycling. It’s great news.
“We understand that this is a change that will take some getting used to for everyone, but it’s an important one as we move towards a borough where we waste less, re-use more and increase recycling rates.
“More than half of London boroughs have already made this switch, and we have used experience gained elsewhere to help us make this change.”
The first phase of the fortnightly collection covered 2,350 homes, 100 of which are big households that have been provided with bigger black bins to help them adapt.
The borough wide change from April 15 only applies to household’s living in ‘kerbside’ properties, which are those that put their wheelie bins out in the street for collection. As well as weekly recycling and food waste these homes also have access to weekly collections of small electrical items and batteries.
For more information on recycling services in Lambeth visit www.lambeth.gov.uk/rubbish-recycling. Collections from communal bins on estates, as well as from properties that have their rubbish collected from sacks remain unchanged.
The rollout of fortnightly rubbish collection is part of Lambeth’s broader 2030 vision that is a net-zero compatible borough with reduce, re-use and recycle at its heart.
