Recyling credits: councils respond

District and borough councils have denied claims that money given to them by West Sussex to boost recycling rates had not been used for that purpose.

One council said that some figures used to help justify a reduction in the amount of recycling credits they received were ‘not accurate’.

The credits are paid by the county to second-tier councils for every tonne of waste sent for recycling.

At a recent select committee meeting, in Chichester, Deborah Urquhart, cabinet member for environment, described the system as ‘not fit for purpose’, and suggested some money was being put into reserves rather than into recycling projects.

Her decision to reduce the credits was called in for debate by other councillors.

Arun, Chichester and Horsham District Councils, along with Crawley Borough Council, have provided details of projects being funded with the credits.

A spokesman for Arun said: “The decision report indicates that recycling rates across the county have not seen any significant improvement since 2010 and that the recycling credit payments as an incentive mechanism have therefore not been effective.

“As indicated within the call-in, the assertion around recycling levels is not accurate as Waste Collection Authorities in West Sussex have shown improvement in recycling rates since 2013/14.”

A Chichester spokesman said: “As well as increasing the quantity being recycled, a lot of other work has been going on behind the scenes at districts and boroughs to increase the quality of materials being recycled.

“This work has focused on reducing recycling contamination to ensure that the material sorted at the central Materials Recycling Facility in Ford can be easily marketed.”