Lichfield District Council has been accused of lacking ambition after a new local authority recycling league table showed the city had slipped to 29th place.
The claim came from councillor Steve Norman (Lab, Summerfield), who was Chair of Environmental and Health Services from 1995-1999, following the news that Staffordshire Moorlands District Council had become the nation’s top recycling local authority – a position held by Lichfield in 2003/04.
The figures show that Lichfield district residents now recycle 50 per cent of domestic refuse, compared to 61.6 per cent in the Staffordshire Moorlands area.
Cllr Norman said:
“When Labour won control in 1995 the council had the reputation of being the worst recycler in Staffordshire – recycling only 0.01 per cent of all domestic refuse. We introduced kerbside collections and managed 25 per cent by the time the Tories won back control.
“They carried on building on the system, with our full support, and became top recyclers in 2003/04 with 46 per cent diverted from landfill. We pipped previous top recyclers Daventry Council, who had helped advise us, by four per cent with Staffordshire Moorlands in the north of the County recycling only 30 per cent.
“However the Moorlands doubled that figure to 61.6 percent last year whilst Lichfield had only increased it by 4 per cent to 50 per cent.”
Cllr Norman added that there were national and local targets for recycling and Staffordshire’s current target is to recycle 55 per cent by 2020.
But he added that Lichfield was not contributing enough:
“Clearly the District Council lacks ambition as their target is the county’s one of 55 per cent in a decade’s time, whereas Staffordshire Moorlands had a target of 52.8 per cent in 2007/08!
“Apart from being bad for the environment it costs us money to send waste to landfill. I hope the new bins help but there has to be a greater push by the council to give residents the support they need to get back near the top of the recycling league.”
But Lichfield District Council’s Leader defended the authority’s record on recycling.
Cllr David Smith explained:
“We are proud to be amongst the top 30 recycling councils in the country, which is a huge achievement, and we continue to be a pathfider authority.
“Our new blue bin system will take us back to the very top, together with our new partners Tamworth Borough Council, who have joined us in a groundbreaking joint service. Together we are leading the way in innovative waste management that, in these difficult times, will make considerable savings to our community.”
