Westminster supports campaign to highlight freesheet waste (13/06/2007)

Westminster City Council welcomes a global campaign highlighting the importance of newspaper recycling as a mountain of freesheet waste blights the capital.

Around 1000 tonnes of free newspapers are ending up on Westminster's streets and in litter bins every year, accounting for up to a quarter of all street waste in the West End alone And as the newspapers are contaminated by other waste they can't even be recycled.

Campaign group Project Freesheet is urging people interested in recycling to take part in its campaign to raise the issues of the impact of freesheets on the environment.

Cllr Alan Bradley, Westminster City Council's Cabinet Member for Street Environment, said: "This campaign is highlighting the very issues we are facing. Westminster is at the sharp end due to the proliferation of free newspapers, and areas of the city which have won awards for their cleanliness are being blighted by a sea of discarded newspapers.

"We're not against free newspapers per se, but what we are against is their negative impact on the environment. We've been negotiating with the publishers of the free evening newspapers which are impacting on us most to help set up a viable recycling scheme in Westminster targeted specifically at their newspapers."

Project Freesheet organiser Justin Canning said: "There appears to be a lot of hypocrisy by these newspapers which tout their own green agenda in their news pages, but do not follow that through with actions when it comes to the problems they're creating. We want readers to be aware of their impact and responsibilities towards the environment, but the producers also have a responsibility, and it’s down to their readers to force these publishers to make sure their waste is recycled."

Westminster City Council is still in negotiations with the publishers of London Lite and The London Paper, Associated Newspapers and News International respectively.

The Council’s cleansing teams will be on standby at Trafalgar Square on Wednesday evening (13.06.07) where Project Freesheet volunteers are gathering between 6-7pm to create a giant pile of newspapers.

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Notes to editors:

* An extra four tonnes of waste is being generated every single day (Mon-Fri) in Westminster due to the deluge of The London Paper and London Lite which have a combined daily circulation in excess of 900,000 copies.

* Local authorities have the power under the Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act 2005 to restrict the distribution of free literature in areas where they pollute the environment.

* The litter is so severe in the West End that free newspapers account for around a quarter of all waste collected, and as it’s mixed up with street litter it is not recycled so ends up in either landfill or incineration.

* The City Council increased the number of newspaper recycling bins to 131 following the launch of the free evening newspapers last August, and estimates that 3.2million newspapers will be recycled through these over the course of the year

* But to deal with the deluge an extra 300 recycling bins and extra lorries and crews to regularly empty them, at a cost of around £500,000 for the first two years, is required. Following initial set up annual running costs would be lower, but still significant.

* Since of the introduction of free evening newspapers last August Westminster City Council estimates it will collect in the region of an extra 1,000 tonnes of newspapers over the course of the year, pushing up its street waste levels to 20,000 tonnes annually. At current rates this will have a negative impact of one percentage point on the council’s recycling rates which would be 21per cent were it not for free newspapers. Instead it is currently 20 per cent.

* Approximately 30 million people visit London each year. It is estimated that over 95% of visitors to London visit Westminster, representing a total of approximately 28.5 million people per year.