news release and photocall 1 May 2008

Cllr Mick Bale, the Chairman of the Council, Cllr Martyn Ford, the Vice-Chairman of the Environmental and Development Services Committee and Gillian Coates, the Council’s Senior Waste Management Officer will be meeting photographers at 11 am at The Black Cow public house, Dalbury before taking them to Rock House Farm

Tomorrow the very last of 38,000 homes in South Derbyshire will join the District's 'brown bin' composting scheme.

On Thursday 1 May, 2008 the Chairman of South Derbyshire District Council, Cllr Mick Bale will be delivering the last brown composting bin to Alan Naylor of Rock House Farm in Dalbury in the rural north of the district. The Chairman will be joined by Cllr Martyn Ford, Vice Chairman of the Environmental and Development Services Committee and Gillian Coates, South Derbyshire's Senior Waste Management Officer.

Says Cllr Mick Bale, Chairman of South Derbyshire District Council, "South Derbyshire is predominantly rural, but now even the most isolated farmhouse or home can be part of the worldwide drive to recycling our waste. We have brown bins for food, garden waste and torn up cardboard, blue bags for paper, white bags for clothes and green boxes for cans, glass bottles and foil.

Gillian Coates has been responsible for the 'brown bin' composting scheme since it began in September 1996. Says Gillian, "We were one of the very first local authorities in the country to set up a compost and recycling scheme. Other councils, including Lichfield and East Staffordshire, came to visit us to see how it could be done."

"We were firm in our belief that local people should understand the importance of recycling and composting at home. We didn’t impose a new method of working on an unsuspecting public. We have slowly but surely introduced composting a few thousand houses at a time throughout the District. We held roadshows to explain what, why and how we were recycling and made sure that people knew that staff were available to help and support them."

The development of the recycling and compost scheme has been steady and sure, while at the same time including the latest technological developments. Now in South Derbyshire, through the adoption of the in-vessel method, food waste can be put in the recycling bin.

Says Cllr Martyn Ford, "Councillors have supported the compost and recycling schemes wholeheartedly. To make recycling work we have firm but fair rules so that everything that can have another use is used again. The statistics such as the user satisfaction survey of 2006 show that 72% of the people of South Derbyshire are committed to making our District greener."