Each year in Richmond upon Thames households produce over 85,000 tonnes of waste; this is enough to more than fill the Twickenham Rugby Stadium. Currently 32% of the borough's household waste is being recycled, and half of Richmond residents recycle on a regular basis.

Recycling in the home

A wide range of materials can be easily recycled directly from the home, by using the: Black box and Blue Bag recycling scheme, Food waste recycling scheme, Garden waste collection service , A compost bin , Plastics recycling

Richmond Council also offers a service to find out how to reduce the amount of unwanted mail that comes through your door, and obtain a free "No junk mail" sticker.

Recycling Garden Waste

Recycling garden waste benefits the environment and helps reduce the effects of climate change. Because of the environmental problems associated with sending garden waste to landfill it is not accepted as part of the normal waste collection. Garden waste can be recycled in a number of different ways. You may find it best to use a combination of methods, which meet your needs.

Flats recycling pilot scheme launched A pilot scheme enabling people in flats to recycle cardboard and plastic bottles has been launched by Richmond Council in February 2007. This has been made possible by funding received from the London Recycling Fund. The scheme has been set up for those who live in blocks of flats with more than 10 units. If you live in a block of flats with less than 10 units you can recycle using the kerbside collection.

Commercial Recycling - Future plans The borough's long-term waste and recycling collection services are presently being reviewed. Commercial recycling collections are going to be considered as part of the second part of the review and hopefully implemented in 2007. In the interim to help business in the borough that want to recycle their waste a comprehensive list has been compiled of private organisations who offer commercial recycling collections for a wide variety of materials and who operate in and around Richmond upon Thames, as well as other resources to help businesses operate more sustainably.

Schools

We are currently reviewing the schools' recycling services that we offer and are keen to help schools set recycling targets for their pupils and get as involved as possible. We can help you implement the following recycling schemes into schools: Paper, cans and glass collections, Cardboard banks, Organic waste recycling at school which includes; composting, food waste and green waste.

Regretfully we cannot offer any on site collection for plastic bottles at present. Plastic bottle bring banks are being sited around the borough.

Recycling Facilities

There are 123 recycling sites across the borough which residents can use to take a variety of materials from cardboard and paper to glass bottles and cans to be recycled.

Adopt a recycling site scheme Of the 123 recycling sites situated across the Borough, did you know that over 40 of these sites have been adopted by community groups in the area. In return for helping manage these sites, the Council offers a generous quarterly payment.

Landfill

The refuse collection service collects household waste (rubbish) from every household in the Borough. To keep landfill to a minimum and to keep a clean and green environment, we encourage you to reduce, reuse and recycle as much as possible. As a Borough resident, you may have bulky items of waste or furniture to dispose of you can either dispose of this yourself at the local civic amenity site at Townmead Road

How are we meeting standards It is our aim to be the cleanest and greenest borough in London. We encourage producers of waste to manage their waste responsibly and help us to protect our environment.

We offer a trade waste collection service for all business in the Borough however large of small. Collections can be arranged on a daily to weekly basis.

If you are a registered charity you may benefit from one free commercial waste collection per week.

White Sacks service Mostly used by businesses that have little space for bins for example restaurants and wine bars that have a daily collection service or small offices that produce small amounts of waste.

We provide you with the white sacks, which have the Council logo on them. We issue the sacks twice yearly having discussed with you, your business requirements.

CONTACT DETAILS

Flats recycling pilot scheme - Dimitra Rizou on 020 8487 5171, or by email: d.rizou@richmond.gov.uk

Schools Recycling - the EcoAction office on 020 8891 7063 or send an email to eco@richmond.gov.uk.

Adopt a recycling site scheme - If you are a member of a group who would like to get involved, please phone 08456 122 660 or email: recycling@richmond.gov.uk.

Commercial waste - Please call our Commercial Waste Officer on 020 8891 7057 for further information.