Swansea Council staff are helping to boost the city’s overall recycling percentage, which has now hit the 40% mark.
Better recycling facilities have been introduced in offices throughout council-buildings in recent months. This has had a positive impact not only on the amount of waste recycled in the council but has helped improve the overall percentage rate for Swansea.
A recycling bin system which includes containers for plastic, glass and tin, paper and card and a separate one for general waste are now in place in most offices, and individual waste bins have been taken away.
The new bin system has seen the Council’s recycling rate go from 60.75% in 2009/10 to 70.4% in 2010/11.
And the latest figures also highlight that less waste is being produced overall in the Council. A total of 195.8 tonnes of waste, including recyclables was produced in 2009/10. This figure has now dropped to 188.42 tonnes.
Trish Flint, Swansea Council’s Recycling and Waste Minimisation Officer said, “The Council is the largest employer in Swansea. We need to ensure we are all doing our bit to reduce waste and recycle more.
“The latest figures show that providing improved recycling facilities in the workplace helps encourage more staff to recycle.
“The bigger challenge is for offices to produce less waste in the first place. Overall figures for waste have gone down since last year. Hopefully we can do even better next year.”
Recycling and waste figures relate to council officers at the Civic Centre, Penllergaer and the Guildhall.
