29 September 2022
Your request
- the methods of disposal for rejected household recycling used by your authority for the following years: · 2017/18 · 2018/19 · 2019/20 · 2020/21
- the annual cost to dispose of rejected household recycling within your authority for the following years: · 2017/18 · 2018/19 · 2019/20 · 2020/21
- the main reasons for household recycling being rejected. For example, items were contaminated or not suitable for recycling.
- any guidance or instructions under which recycling centres determine the acceptance or rejection of items collected within your authority.
Our response
- 2017/18; 2018/19;· 2019/20; 2020/21 energy from waste for all years. Items not compatible for recycling is manually picked as it goes through the Material Recycling Facility (MRF). As the waste is transferred through a shared MRF, it is not possible to provide the financial details of all materials extracted through this method specifically for Lambeth. Lambeth has an agreed sampling process which determines what the contamination charge will be each month based on the percentage of bad recycling sampled.
- based on the material sampled, the following charges were levied for contamination:
• 2017/18 - £85,169.32
• 2018/19 - £87,902.67
• 2019/20 - £79,004.87
• 2020/21 - £90,721.96
- any item that is not a target material will be removed during the picking process in the MRF. If at the point of collection it is visibly noticeable that the recycling contains contamination, the bin will not be emptied and will be managed through the applicable contamination process in accordance with the bin type.
- items that reach the MRF will be removed if it is not target material. At the point of transfer all loads are subject to visual checks by MRF staff. Any load that visually appears to have in excess of 10% contamination could be subject to rejection.