Members of North London Waste Authority (NLWA) have approved a major package of initiatives to help two million residents across north London reduce waste, recycle more, and embrace reuse.
To promote reuse, a new shop dedicated to selling preloved safety-tested electrical items will open at the Reuse and Recycling Centre (RRC) at Edmonton EcoPark while the opening hours of the popular Reuse Shop at Kings Road RRC will increase from five to seven days a week.
To counter increasing contamination rates in recycling, a trial involving a team of recycling advisers will work directly with residents in areas where performance or participation is low, providing advice on what can and cannot be recycled.
Education is a major focus. Plans to foster waste prevention and circular economy education include launching a secondary schools programme and doubling the number of school sessions at the new visitor and community centre, EcoPark House at Edmonton EcoPark. NLWA’s ‘In the Know’ programme will also be scaled up to allow schools to maintain annual accreditation through waste audits as well as lessons and assemblies.
In addition, NLWA will expand doorstep collections for electrical waste to all its seven boroughs from January. Research is also underway into innovative solutions including the potential of a specialist recycling facility, to tackle disposable nappies and other absorbent hygiene products. These highly contaminated items currently account for 9% of residual waste, with annual disposal costs of £3.2 million.
Chair of NLWA, Cllr Clyde Loakes, said: “Unsustainable consumption, with its take-make-dispose model, results in far too many items and materials, which could have been reused, repaired or recycled, ending up as waste.
"For more than ten years, NLWA has been developing and delivering a sector-leading programme of waste prevention activity. These new initiatives significantly ramp up our ability to help residents, including helping foster circular economy skills in our young people and delivering services where residents can opt for preloved items over new, which benefits not only the environment but also reduces the cost of living.”
The initiatives form part of the North London Joint Waste Strategy 2025–2040, which sets out a vision for a low-waste future by prioritising waste prevention, reuse, and repair, while calling for Government and industry action to tackle waste at source.