Sparked by Dave’s post about a greener Essex, I recently looked up the ranking of our 10 Greater Manchester authorities to see how we were all fairing… There’s a list of 393 councils ranked by total % for 2004-05. And boy, does it make some interesting reading… When ranked by total recycling %s, Stockport comes 40 out of 393, only 199 places above its nine fellow councils.
Stockport - position 40 out of 393
14.60% recycling
16.25% composting
30.85% total
Bury - position 239 out of 393
10.63% recycling
8.06% composting
15.26% total
Manchester - position 317 out of 393
14.78% recycling
0.48% composting
15.26% total
Wigan - position 321 out of 393
11.79% recycling
3.25% composting
15.04% total
Bolton - position 355 out of 393
10.31% recycling
2.78% composting
13.09% total
Salford - position 357 out of 393
12.13% recycling
0.71% composting
12.84% total
Tameside - position 359 out of 393
11.41% recycling
1.11% composting
12.52% total
Rochdale - position 371 out of 393
8.61% recycling
3.04% composting
11.65% total
Oldham - position 381 out of 393
7.88% recycling
2.89% composting
10.77% total
Trafford - position 384 out of 393
10.39% recycling
0.08% composting
10.47% total
And frankly reading that column made me start to get angry. If Stockport can do it why can’t Manchester and the others? Grrrrr…
Hang on a sec.
There are some little insights in there if you reorder the rankings by recycling ONLY - in which case Manchester comes highest with 14.78%, a full seven percentage points above the lowest area Oldham. And if you arrange it by composting ONLY then Stockport is still the king at more than 14%, but Salford, Manchester and Trafford, the three most urban authorities, are all under less than 1%. Less leafy gardens to prune and less lawns to mow per chance?
Come to think of it, although some of our recycling ends up in the Whitworth Street bins in the city, if we ever shift any amount of stuff in a vehicle to the recycling centre, or by foot to the supermarket, then they’re both in Salford. Is it possible that we’re tampering with the ratings simply by being networked across a tightly packed urban area where there are sometimes three authorities within a few miles of each other?
I suppose what really makes me cross is that we have no bin system at home – we’re told that it’s too complicated for the city centre flats. So how exactly have Bath been managing it fine for many years, in a cobbled Georgian city?? Mind you having seen Paul’s rant maybe it’s all for the best that we fend for ourselves…
2 comments:
Stockport have issued recycling bins to everyone, which probably affects things... we get leaflets through the door asking us to use them.
Yeah...in Stockport we have three collections: green composting wheelie bins; a tub for glass and tin cans; and a bag for paper. Green waste gets collected one week and the other stuff the next. They always turn up and never leave a mess, so guess that inspires people.
I only wish they collected cardboard and plastic bottles, so we didn't accumulate such enormous piles to take to the recycling centre at the tip.
Post a Comment