2:30pm Monday 1st January 2007
By Beverley Rouse
Councils are being told to get their act together if they want residents to recycle.
Robert Hickman, 76, of Alexandra Road, Great Wakering, called Rochford District Council for advice on how he could recycle cardboard left over from Christmas packaging.
Because the council offers no roadside cardboard collection, he was told to take it to the recycling bins at the tip in Castle Road, Rayleigh.
When Mr Hickman explained it would be difficult to get there, the council advisor told him he would have to put it in the bin.
In the end, he gave it to his daughter, who lives in Southend, where Cory Environmental collects cardboard from outside homes.
Mr Hickman said: "My attitude now is to bung it in the dustbin. If they can't be bothered, neither can I.
"Surely we are either recycling or not recycling."
Mr Hickman believes all councils should provide the same collections so residents are more likely to go green.
Rochford District Council should have been recycling 20 per cent of all residents' waste this year, but has averaged only 15-16 per cent, although last month it did manage 18.56 per cent.
Alan Lovett, who manages the council's waste and recycling, said the council wanted to offer a wider service when it renegotiated its waste contract.
The new contract is due to start in April 2008 and the tendering process has already started.
Mr Lovett said: "We do collect glass, which Southend doesn't, but cardboard and plastic are the two things we don't collect from the doorstep - although we have got quite a lot of banks for plastic bottles."
He said Rochford district residents could also take recyclables to Southend Council's tip in Sutton Road and pay a £3 entry fee, which they could then reclaim from Essex County Council.
A spokeswoman for Essex County Council said it left each district authority to make its own arrangements as individual authorities had different priorities and budgets for recycling.
She said there were no plans to standardise the collection service across Essex, although ideas were shared through the Waste Management Advisory Board, which includes representatives from across Essex, except Thurrock.
She said: "It's an opportunity for everyone to sit around the table and talk about what works where and what they want to bring in, like kitchen waste recycling, which they are trialling in Uttlesford."
What you can put out for kerbside recycling depends on where you live:
Southend:
All paper and cardboard
BooksDrink cartonsTelephone directoriesTextilesShoes and handbagsDuvetsCansFoil, including takeaway containers and foil wrapPlastic food and drink containersPlastic bags
Basildon:
Newspapers
Magazines/comicsBrown envelopesCardboardWhite paperPhone directoriesThere is also a pink sack scheme for 66,000 homes that takes plastic bottles, cardboard, tin cans, aerosol cans, textiles, newspapers, magazines and telephone directories.
More than 70,000 households have collection boxes for the kerbside glass recycling scheme.
Rochford:
Glass
NewspapersMagazinesJunk mailCataloguesTelephone directoriesDrink cansFood tinsTin foilYou cannot recycle envelopes, shredded paper, Yellow Pages, aerosols or gas canisters.
Castle Point:
Green waste
PaperTextilesCardboardGlass bottles and jars
Thurrock:
Newspapers and magazines
CardboardCataloguesPhone directoriesEnvelopesGlassPlastic bottlesFood and drink cansPlastic carrier bagsEmpty aerosolsYou cannot recycle egg boxes, light bulbs, mirrors, plastic packaging or yoghurt pots.
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