Lib Dems bag victory in bid to improve recycling

Green sacks will now be available over the counter at libraries and housing offices. Image: Hackney Council

Hackney Council has resolved to improve the borough’s recycling rate by making green bags more readily available.

Recycling bags will now be handed out in libraries and in neighbourhood housing offices “with a view to a wider roll-out of availability”.

Recycling in Hackney has stalled at around 25 per cent since 2009, council figures show, but the Town Hall says it wants to aim for a 50 per cent recycle rate by 2020.

The move was decided in a council meeting last week, through a motion proposed by Cllr Ian Sharer, Lib Dem councillor for Cazenove ward.

Cllr Abraham Jacobson, who seconded the motion, said that recycling should be “a way of life”.

Former Green councillor, Mischa Borris said: “Some households have had difficulties in getting enough bags so anything which helps with that is welcome. But the Council is also wasting money by automatically delivering multiple sacks to single-person households, regardless of need.

“The Council also needs to do more to find out why the recycling rate has flatlined at 25% for five years, for example by investigating why more people aren’t recycling.”