Derbyshire & Chesterfield Councils incinerated and buried our kerbside recycling
The Daily Telegraph revealed that during lockdown North East Derbyshire district council diverted ‘all of its kerbside recycling to landfill or incinerator’. The council manages more than 21,000 households with an estimated population of of 79,238 – that is a lot of recycling! Meanwhile, for a whole month Chesterfield borough council sent ‘mixed dry recycling (containing paper/cardboard, plastics, cans)…for disposal’. The council admitted sending a total of 574 tons of recycling to landfill or incinerator without informing local residents. This outrage was seen in only five local authorities, including NE Derbyshire and Chesterfield, whilst the rest of the nation’s councils dealt with their recycling properly. Frank Adlington-Stringer, Green Party local campaigner in Derbyshire, said “It is outrageous that residents have been pointlessly sorting their recycling. We are not only in the midst of a pandemic but also a climate emergency, our councils should place both people and the planet at the heart of everything they do”. It is important to note that normal recycling services have resumed.