ThameNews.Net

22/10/12.....Another recycling award for Thame area -

Residents in South Oxfordshire and in the Vale and have been congratulated on their excellent recycling yet again.

The Vale of White Horse and South Oxfordshire District Councils scooped the Best Improved Recycling Rates prize at the Local Authority Recycling Advisory Committee (LARAC) Celebration Awards 2012. The two councils share a waste contract with Biffa and were also named as the top two recycling areas in the country in a survey carried out by letsrecycle.com.

The service was launched in South Oxfordshire in 2009, since when the rates have increased from 42% per cent to approximately 70 per cent.

Since the launch of its current waste and recycling service in July 2010, recycling rates in the Vale have increased dramatically from around 36 per cent to just under 70 per cent as well.

The judges at the LARAC awards described the recycling figures as: “phenomenal."

The councils also won a silver award for Transformation in Waste and Environment at the IE Awards 2012. When the service was launched, it was supported by a communications campaign that won the Best Green Direct Mail Award at the International Green Awards in 2009.

Cllr David Dodds, cabinet member for waste at South Oxfordshire, and a Thame Town Cllr, said: “Operating a shared service with the Vale saves us huge sums of money and the more our residents recycle the more money we save in avoided landfill tax. Once again we would like to thank our residents for their ongoing commitment to making the recycling service such a success.”

Recently, the councils introduced a battery recycling service as well as installing bring banks for small electrical items at their many recycling points across southern Oxfordshire.

The councils also have a smartphone app called Binfo that reminds residents of their collection dates and if there are changes to the service due to bank holidays or adverse weather.

Further information on Binfo can be found at: www.whitehorsedc.gov.uk/binfo

The LARAC Celebration awards ceremony took place on Wednesday, October 17, at Chesford Grange in Kenilworth.