PAPER is piling up at the recycling warehouse. Newspapers, cardboard, textiles, furniture, electrical goods, metals, plastics, ceramics, oils and cans - you name it, Bournemouth residents have been recycling it.

Between January and July this year, an unprecedented percentage of waste was able to be fully recycled, according to W&S Recycling, who manage the kerbside collections and Bourne-mouth council's recycling sites.

The total exceeded 85 per cent of goods disposed of through the Blue Bag Scheme and at Millham's household recycling centre.

It makes financial as well as environmental sense, said recycling officer at W&S Mike Hartland.

"We want to say a very big thank you to all Bournemouth residents, particularly the 60 per cent of those who use the Blue Bag Scheme every week and to the others who use recycling bins or the Millham's site.

"Their commitment to recycling is good news, not only for the environment, but also for council tax payers. The cost to them of recycling is dramatically less than the cost of the weekly disposal of waste in the wheelie bins."

In 1997, Bournemouth was named the number one town in the UK for recycling with 31 per cent of all rubbish finding its way into recycling systems.

Today that figure has dropped to 21.5 per cent.

But thanks to our new determination to help and the success of the Blue Bag Scheme, staff at W&S believe it is possible to recycle a staggering 60 per cent of all waste.

Proprietor Geoff Thompson added: "Residents can make a real difference by doing three things; separating food scraps and general waste from the things that can be recycled, using the Blue Bag Scheme to the full, including asking for more bags and then making sure that glass, plastics and garden waste are kept totally separate. If food, glass or garden waste get mixed up with papers, even if it is dumped at Millhams, it cannot be recycled effectively and so it goes to landfill. Simply separating rubbish and disposing of it correctly will make all the difference."

And in Purbeck, the first week of the new Recycle for Purbeck scheme saw recycling rates increase by a massive 69 per cent in the south side of the district.

Some 37.18 tonnes of recyclable material was collected compared to 21.98 tonnes the week before.

Councillor Paul Johns, deputy environment spokesman, said: "As a council we have had to make some tough decisions about how to encourage recycling. But at the end of the day it is up to residents whether they participate and I am delighted that these really early figures show such a positive upward trend in recycling.

"It does involve extra effort for householders to recycle their waste and we are really pleased that people are prepared to put in that effort to help safeguard Purbeck for future generations."

And it's not just at home that recycling is required.

Rob Shearman, who runs several catering outlets along Bournemouth seafront, said: "I see the best and worst of the summer. Rubbish and litter can certainly be a problem, but we have been researching recycling and next year we are backing the council's initiatives to keep Bournemouth beautiful.

"We tried to adopt a scheme which recycles polystyrene cups into rulers and other useful items this year, but the technology is young and it was hard to be totally successful.

"Our task this winter is to find suitable cups, which are safe for hot drinks on the beach, can be recycled easily and importantly don't cost a fortune. We sell a lot of tea and coffee on the beach and recycling is certainly our priority at the moment."

First published: October 23