Businesses aren't doing their recycling business

Despite Hackney's compulsory residential recycling scheme, no similar regulations apply to businesses and they often opt for the cheaper landfill option, writes Harriet Shawcross.


It’s a bright Saturday morning on Hoxton market, and a charming Polish man is handing out green linen bags.

“Do you promise to recycle?” he asks a bewildered pensioner, handing her a bag.
“Yes mate,” a skinhead replies as he elbows past, “Now are these bags free? ‘Cos I’ll get one for the wife.”

This free-for-all is a ‘recycling workshop’ to publicise Hackney’s compulsory recycling scheme, which came into force on March 1. Recycling is now mandatory for households across the borough, and anyone living on a street level property must recycle their household waste, or face a fine of up to a thousand pounds.

But as pensioners dutifully divide their plastic from their perishables, the borough’s businesses are continuing to send mountains of recyclable waste to landfill sites.

There are currently no government regulations to encourage businesses to recycle. According to the Department for Trade and Industry, businesses are only required to dispose of their waste in a responsible manner. As a result many choose to send their waste to landfill, as this is the cheapest and easiest method of waste disposal.

Steven Sheehan (above) has run a crockery stall on Hoxton market for the past 18 months, and has been watching the ‘recycling workshop’ with amusement. He does not recycle, and although he estimates that 90 per cent of the stall’s waste could be recycled, he believes it is just not practical. “We’re so busy here,” he says, “We haven’t got time to divide things up into paper and card. Even if we did, we would have to pay the council to collect it, and that would mean hiking our prices up to cover the costs. No-one wants that.”

For small businesses like Steven’s, recycling is simply not a viable option. It is too expensive, he says. Michael Day, a Technical Officer at the Chartered Institute of Waste Management, believes this is a common problem. “Small businesses are over-stretched, and so long as landfill is the cheapest option, there’s not a huge incentive for them to do anything else. In terms of time, space and money it is easiest to throw everything in one bin.”

But the situation is gradually changing, he says. This year landfill tax rose by three pounds per tonne, while new regulations mean that from October landfill waste will have to be pre-sorted into recyclable and non-recyclable material. These changes will make landfill less attractive to businesses and could pave the way for increased corporate recycling.

“We are still wrestling with this new legislation, but it looks very positive and could help bring us up to speed with recycling rates in Europe,” he says.

As firms use different waste contractors, there are no statistics showing how the new legislation has affected Hackney businesses. But one Hackney firm has made no secret of its recycling prowess.

The Green Bottle Unit (GBU), in Hackney Central, recycles a tonne of the borough’s used glass every week: from bars, restaurants and glaziers. They use it to make beautiful public art installations and interior designs. The company’s work is on display throughout London, and can be seen in the blue rippled tiles that pave the Shoreditch Art Trail. The GBU’s Managing Director, Gordon Pryor, is positive about the future of recycling in Hackney. He says: “We have a vision of today’s waste mountains being converted into materials that will clad the buildings of the future.”

If he’s right then compulsory recycling could help to create not only a greener, but also more aesthetically pleasing, Hackney.