Recycling

Why do we need to reduce the amount of rubbish?

We make more waste now than ever before. In fact the average Oldham household creates the equivalent weight of a small car in rubbish every year!

This rubbish is buried in holes in the ground called landfill sites where it rots over many years, polluting our environment today and for generations to come. Our waste cannot continue to be disposed of like this - we need to start making less rubbish.

The Government has set challenging targets for recycling as much of our waste as possible. In 2007/08 Oldham achieved a recycling rate of around 20%, which was a great improvement on previous years (as you can see in the graph), but we could recycle even more. This year (2008/9) we must reach a recycling rate of 25% and by 2010/11 our target will be 35%. If these targets are not met, the Borough could be hit by severe financial penalties for sending too much of our rubbish to landfill sites so we need your support and action!

Oldham recycling rates graph