Cllr Cooke welcomed Mr Nouhan, who is the Recycling Manager at Sevenoaks District Council. Mr Nouhan gave a short slide presentation and reported that in some areas of the district one freighter is used, which is divided into two sections; one for black sacks and one for recycling sacks. The more rural areas have two freighters due to the narrow lanes. The bags are separated in this way to avoid contamination of the recyclable items. The freighters take the rubbish to the Sundridge transfer station , and the recycling bags are then taken to a recycling factory in Rainham, Essex. The black sacks go to Allington in Kent, an energy centre, not landfill. This facility has been in operation since March this year. The contents of the black sacks are cut into small pieces and are then fed into a furnace. The energy that is produced every day is the equivalent electricity used by 50-60,000 houses in Kent. The omissions from the energy centre are less polluting than other fossil fuels. All households in the district are given free of charge 20 black sacks and 25 recycling bags, which equates to 1 black sack and 1¹/₄ recycling bags per week. More are available to purchase from SDC, or the Clerk has a quantity which can be given to residents free of charge.

The recycling centre at Rainham handles 50,000 tons of waste per year. The bags are sorted by hand to remove anything that is unable to be recycled, then the items are placed in a big drum in order to separate the paper, which is baled. The cans and plastic bottles are separated by a magnet; cans are squashed and bottles are sorted into milk and other bottles, and are sorted again by hand into colour. Food trays are not able to be recycled due to the risk of contamination of the other goods, particularly paper. Glass is not collected from the roadside yet, as broken glass contaminates paper because glass fibres mimic paper fibres and ruins the recycling machines. Large items can be collected from homes for a £10 charge. Kent County Council has a contract with the processing facility, who sell the recyclables onto the highest bidder.

Questions

1. Cllr Barratt stated that the sorting process looks labour intensive. Other districts ask for items to be already sorted before collection. Mr Nouhan advised that in 2001, SDC carried out a consultation and residents wanted weekly collections and a simple process. The current system is very successful and allows for the existing freighters to be used and also that residents do not have to have so much storage space at home.
2. Cllr Mrs Ward advised that District Cllr Mrs Cook reported that SDC wishes to reduce its carbon footprint. Mr Nouhan advised that this is energy related. SDC hope to reduce the use of electricity in their offices and make better use of water etc. Cllr Mrs Ward suggested that this is cascaded down to the rate payers to see what they can do. Mr Nouhan agreed, advising that there are schemes for cavity wall insulation for example. Cllr Mrs Ward advised that Bore Place is hoping to produce electricity by using small wind turbines, which may also benefit the local area.
3. Cllr Cooke asked if energy saving requisites will be added to planning approval. Mr Nouhan responded that the building firms are resisting such a move.
4. Mrs Margaret Cooke asked whether redundant computers can be recycled. Mr Nouhan advised that KCC waste sites will soon have areas for electrical goods such as toasters, computers, televisions etc. There will soon be new legislation in the next year or so, which makes companies remove old items when a new one is purchased. Some companies, such as Dell Computers, already offer this service.

Mrs Lorna Galbraith asked whether people who do not recycle at all will get a gentle nudge. Mr Nouham advised that the refuge teams can test the occasional bag during their collection round to see what rubbish people are disposing of. This information is fed back and the householder might be approached. The next step would be for an Environmental Inspector to make sure that rubbish is separated properly. SDC has the power of enforcement, but currently does not use it.