Welcome to the 22nd issue of Hampshire Now – the magazine produced for Hampshire residents by Hampshire County Council.
The long, dark winter evenings may seem like a distant memory now that summer has arrived and no doubt many of you will be making plans to get out and about. This edition is packed full of ideas for things to do and see in Hampshire. If you fancy a fun-filled day out with the family, why not come along to this year’s New Forest and Hampshire County Show? Once again we’ll be there with plenty going on, so make sure you visit our stand and come and talk to us about our services.
In the spring edition I mentioned that we were undergoing a thorough corporate assessment by the Audit Commission in May, as well as a Joint Area Review of Children’s Services, the Youth Service and Youth Offending Team in Hampshire. Well, the inspectors have been in and we’re currently awaiting the outcome of these important assessments. We will report back on the results of our corporate assessment in a future issue.
As we go to press we start our search for a new Chief Executive as Peter Robertson retires in December. We will bring you details of his successor in a future edition.
If you have children then you may want to know more about the forthcoming changes to the school admissions process, which is due to come into effect in September 2008. Plus, find out the latest on the new Sure Start children’s centres that are being built across Hampshire.
Here at Hampshire County Council we recognise the vital role that voluntary organisations and community groups play in helping us deliver services to Hampshire residents. In view of this, a new grants system has been introduced that allows county councillors to give support to groups providing projects, initiatives and facilities that benefit their local community. Find out more in our article Help in the community.
You’ll also find our regular features including the popular ‘Review’ column with great ideas for books, DVDs and CDs to borrow from Hampshire libraries this summer, and our walking feature this time takes us from the historic village of Titchfield down to the Titchfield Haven National Nature Reserve on the coast.
We welcome your views on our services. You can tell us what you think by calling our freephone information line on 0800 028 0888.
Councillor Ken Thornber CBE, Leader of Hampshire County Council
Leader replies
In the spring edition of Hampshire Now Councillor Thornber says that hard plastics don’t go to landfill, but are incinerated. He also says that hard plastics have to be placed in our general waste bins. With the two weekly cycle this now means that extra plastic liners are used to minimise smell and fly infestation.
Does this mean that every lorry load of waste delivered to landfill is screened and hard plastics removed before being spread and crushed by the landfill site equipment? Or does all Hampshire’s waste go to the three energy recovery centres?
I would appreciate clarification of these points please.
Gordon Ford, by email
Unfortunately the wording of the article was slightly misleading. In actual fact, the vast majority of unrecyclable household waste in Hampshire goes to energy recovery incineration, not just hard plastics. Plastic containers, other than plastic bottles, cannot be recycled as facilities do not currently exist in the UK for reprocessing this material.
Hampshire’s three energy recovery facilities (ERFs) are an environmentally friendly way of extracting a resource from our rubbish. Combined with a recycling rate of 36%, they have contributed to reducing Hampshire’s overall landfill rate to around 15% by safely burning unrecyclable waste in state-of-the-art incinerators.
Currently, the only household waste that goes to landfill is the bulky non-recyclable waste from our Household Waste Recycling Centres (HWRCs). However, trials are underway to make it possible for HWRC waste to be shredded in future and therefore sent for energy recovery too, further increasing Hampshire’s landfill diversion rate.
I hope this serves to answer your question and reassures you that all of your waste (including black bin waste) is treated as a resource rather than as rubbish, an approach endorsed by government in the new national waste strategy launched last month.
Councillor Ken Thornber, CBE, Leader