Settle residents thanked for a decade of going green (From Craven Herald)

Settle residents thanked for a decade of going green

11:00am Saturday 1st September 2012 in News

A household waste recycling centre is celebrating ten years of providing the people of Settle with the chance to go green.

The centre, on Sowarth Field Industrial Estate, opened in August 2002, after the old site at Langcliffe was closed to allow the Yorkshire Dales National Park to provide parking for visitors to the former Craven Limeworks’ Hoffman Kiln - the best industrial scale lime kiln in the country.

In its first year of operation, only bric-a-brac, scrap metal, engine oil, car batteries and gas cylinders were accepted for reuse or recycling. Other waste delivered to the site was taken to landfill. Seventy one tonnes was reused or recycled and 1,417 tonnes was sent to landfill.

Since 2002, the number of materials collected at the site for reuse or recycling has risen to 28, including garden waste which is taken to be composted. In 2011/12, 501 tonnes of materials were collected for reuse or recycling, 226 tonnes of garden material was sent for composting and 623 tonnes of waste ended up in landfill.

“Thanks to local residents separating their waste and the increase in types of materials accepted for reuse, recycling and composting at Settle, it has become one of our best performing sites,” said County Coun Chris Metcalfe, executive member for waste management. “More than 67 per cent of household waste delivered to the site has been reused, recycled or composted in the last 12 months, compared with five per cent ten years ago.

“The total amount of waste delivered to the site has also decreased in the same period, which means local people are getting the message about reducing the amount of waste they produce.”